


A Grimm World of Gods and Demons

by Rhyfeddol



Series: Remnants of Olympus [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, RWBY
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 00:46:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7736521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhyfeddol/pseuds/Rhyfeddol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several weeks after the events of the Titan War, Team RWBY have returned to Earth to explore the planet with their demigod friends. However, as one would imagine, things do not go according to plan and war breaks out, placing everything on the brink of destruction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Annabeth**

"Hey, Percy, I've been thinking."

"Oh, here we go again." I slapped him playfully. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Anyway, we haven't really travelled anywhere except for world-saving quests and stuff, and we have four goddess friends who'd probably love to see more of Earth," I told him.

"That's a very good point. I hadn't thought of that," he said thoughtfully, staring at the sunset over Long Island Sound. "Are you saying we should invite Team RWBY on a trip around the world?"

"Yeah."

"Sounds great. Best part is, it'll be free!"

"Is getting free stuff all you care about?" I asked, sighing.

"Nah. I don't care for a free trip through Tartarus," he replied. "One problem. I don't know how to get in touch with them."

He brought up a good point; it had been a few weeks since Yang and Cardin had appeared during dinner, and no one had heard anything from Remnant since. Fortunately, everything was all quiet on Earth too. Since the defeat of the Gigantes and Gaea, it seemed the world would be safe for a few more millennia. It was still summer, however, which meant there was still time for some supernatural trouble to start brewing. At least, if the last few years were anything to go by, there was. I hoped it wouldn't. I wanted one summer to enjoy with my friends and boyfriend, without gods or Titans or giants trying to screw things up. Was that really too much to ask?

"Well, we could try an Iris-message," I suggested. "Or you can say something bad about Yang again," I added, remembering what had happened when he'd questioned Yang's bravery.

"I'd never be that dumb," Percy said. Suddenly, his lips took on a blue tint and he started shivering. Odd, I thought. It's not cold. I gripped the hilt of my dagger, thinking something bad could be coming.

"I don't know, Percy," a familiar voice said behind me. "You can be pretty dumb."

"Why d-d-do all you guys' arriv-vals g-g-go badly for me?" Percy asked through chattering teeth. Turning around, I saw Weiss looking as regal as ever. I took my hand off my dagger.

"Nice to see you, Weiss," I said. "But I'd really appreciate it if you could please not freeze my boyfriend to death."

"Fine. So why did you want to contact us?" she asked.

"How did you know we did?"

"It's hard to explain. We sort of sense when people here are talking about us, then we can just tune in if we feel like it. All I heard was the idiot saying he's not that dumb."

"I said that because I'm not!" Percy protested. "Anyway, we wanted to talk to you guys because we figured you might want to see more of our world."

"It does seem interesting. But we have eternity to explore it," Weiss pointed out.

"Yeah, but we could show you the most interesting parts," I said.

"The last two times we went somewhere with you guys, there were murderous giants trying to kill us," Weiss deadpanned.

"True…" Percy conceded. "But this time there won't be any giants, because they're all dead. We beat the Titans last summer, so no worries. And there most likely won't be any monsters, what with you guys being goddesses and all."

"You're trying really hard to convince me, aren't you?" Weiss said. "I think you just want a free trip."

"What? No!" Percy insisted, looking at me for help.

"He does," I said. "I'd appreciate a free trip, but spending time with my friends and seeing the world is my primary motivation."

"You do realise you don't need to convince me, right? We were actually talking about exploring not long ago."

"Great!" Percy said. "When do we leave?" Before anyone could answer, the smell of roses filled my nostrils. Percy looked around, confused.

"It would seem," Weiss said, unperturbed, "that my fearless leader is here to answer that for you."

"Anytime!" Ruby's excited voice said behind me. I smiled as I turned around to greet her, not even surprised that even as a goddess, she was still as excitable as ever.

"Nice to see you," I said, before the goddess of cookies tackled me with a hug.

"Hey, Ruby," Percy greeted her, frowning. "How've you been?"

"Great! You?"

"Fine, except the time your sister burned my dinner and all I got to eat was one piece of sushi."

"You look deprived," I told him, getting to my feet. "Anyway, how come you two can appear silently, but there was a loud noise when Yang showed up?"

"She's rather… dramatic," Weiss explained. "She might have been taking some lessons from Zeus."

"I wanted to appear in a cookie shower," Ruby grumbled. "Yang told me to hold off on the theatrics until she gets here."

"When are those two coming, anyway?" Weiss asked.

"I hope Yang didn't hear you say that," Percy said. "She'll arrive with a dirty joke I don't dare make."

"Well, Percy," another voice said. "She told me to tell you all you won't miss her arrival. She also said there's absolutely no reason to cover your ears, so you should definitely cover your ears." By now, the sun had set completely, and the newly-arrived goddess of stealth was practically invisible.

"Blake, can you please do a better job of making your girlfriend more civilised?" Weiss groaned, as the dark sky was suddenly lit up. When I heard a sonic boom, I looked up to see what appeared to be a fireball streaking towards the beach. Percy and I clapped our hands to our ears seconds before it landed. The ground shook beneath us, almost knocking us off our feet.

"That was freaking awesome!"

As the fire died down, Yang stood in the middle of a fifteen-foot circle of glass where the sand particles had fused together, looking extremely pleased with herself. She looked the same as ever, except she was glowing slightly. I assumed it was just excess heat.

"Honey, we weren't given divinity to scare the mortals," Blake told her gently, walking towards her. In the glow of Yang's body, I could see her clearly enough to see her frown and stare intently in the direction of the cabins. "Someone's coming," she said warily. Soon enough, I heard footsteps approaching the beach.

"What…" someone said, panting. "In Hades… is going on over here?" More fire suddenly flared up, throwing enough light on the new arrival for me to see his face.

"No, Leo. Hades is being dreary underground. I'm one of the fun goddesses. Pay attention," Yang said matter-of-factly.

"Dammit, could you at least warn me before setting the beach on fire? I'm immune, but still," Leo replied, smiling. "You scared the shit out of me."

After taking a long sniff, Blake frowned. "You shouldn't lie to goddesses, Leo," she told him sternly.

"I'm exaggerating...?" he said doubtfully.

"I know, I'm messing with you. You should know by now that Weiss is the one you're supposed to take seriously."

"Hey!" Weiss protested. "I can make jokes!"

"Nooooo, you can't" Yang told her. "Anyway, Leo, what's up?"

"Not much," he replied. "Came to see what the explosion was."

"That was me!" Yang sounded far too proud of herself.

"So what brings you four here?"

"We're going to travel the world," Ruby told him. "Percy and Annabeth are coming too. Wanna join us?"

"Nah, I'm good, thanks. Got too many projects to work on."

"Hey, guys? Should we bring JNPR too?" I asked.

"Good idea," Yang replied. She waved her hand, opening a small hole in reality. Through it, I could see a darkened dorm room. Putting her face directly to the hole, Yang suddenly bellowed, "GUYS! LET'S GO ON AN ADVENTURE!"

"Gah! What the fuck?!" Jaune's voice asked from the other side of the portal. "Dammit, Yang!" Ruby and Percy snickered at his reaction, while Weiss and Blake stared at Yang in exasperation. Nora's face suddenly appeared in the portal, looking extremely excited.

"Adventure?" she asked. "With stuff to smash?"

"Maybe not too much smashing," Weiss told her. "But yes, adventure."

"Awesome! Guys, let's go!" She stepped back, and made what appeared to be an attempt at a running jump through the portal. She only got her head through, with her shoulders and everything below them stuck on Remnant. Yang and Ruby just about fell over laughing, leaving a disembodied head glaring at them. "Help?" Nora asked. "Someone? Anyone?"

Weiss shook her head and waved her hand, widening the portal. Nora stumbled and almost faceplanted from Remnant to Earth, but managed to save it. When she regained her balance, she looked around excitedly. The rest of her team followed, traversing worlds far more carefully than she had.

"Welcome back to Earth, guys," Percy greeted.

"Hello again!" Pyrrha replied cheerfully.

"Yang, could you please never do that again?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, come on!" Yang protested. "It was hilarious."

"It was pretty funny," Percy said. "Anyway, when do you guys want to leave?"

"Where are we going?" Pyrrha asked.

"Anywhere. Everywhere. Wherever these two think is interesting enough for our attention," Blake explained, gesturing at Percy and I.

"With four goddesses as travelling companions, we won't lack for comforts," Ren said, in one of his rare utterances of speech.

"So we should just let Chiron know, then we can be off," I said. "He's probably in the Big House."

"Well, I'm off to the bunker," Leo announced. "Good to see you all. Have fun, and don't do anything stupid without me." He walked off in the direction of the forest, almost certainly returning to Bunker Nine. The ten of us who remained traipsed off towards the Big House to talk to Chiron. Most of the campers were in their cabins or at the forge at that point, so we didn't run into anybody on the way.

We found the centaur in his office, looking not at all surprised to see Team RWBY. He was looking over some papers when we arrived, frowning at them.

"Chiron?" I asked, entering slowly.

"Hm?" he replied, not looking up.

"The Hunters, Percy and I are going on a trip. I don't know how long we'll be. You cool with that?"

"Yes, fine. Go ahead," Chiron said distantly. He sounded distracted, like he wasn't listening to me at all.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"You can go, but..." He paused, clearly not knowing what to say.

"Did something happen?" Percy asked.

"I've been getting reports of... strange things. Events apparently related to gods, yet Zeus and the other Olympians claim to know nothing. I'm sure it's all fine, but be careful."

"Always," I promised. "Bye." We all left the centaur to his reports and headed back outside.

"So, where should we start?" Yang asked when the ten of us were standing on the porch.

"Somewhere in America, probably," Percy said. Both Hunter teams looked at him blankly, and I vaguely remembered that nobody had told them anything about Earth's geography last time they'd been here.

"If you guys don't mind, I wanna head to Boston," I said. "I want to see my cousin, and there's plenty of stuff for you guys to do there too."

"All right. Let's go!" Ruby exclaimed. "This is gonna be the best trip ever!" Another portal appeared in front of her, through which I could see an alleyway, apparently next to a fairly busy street. We all stepped through, and the calm tranquility of Camp Half-Blood was suddenly replaced with the cacophony of city life. We were in the alley I'd seen, and we scared the living daylights out of a homeless man when we appeared.

"This is definitely Boston," Percy said. "How'd you aim so well if you've never even heard of the city?"

"It's kind of like an instinct," Blake said. "If we hear the name of a place on Earth, we can teleport there or make a portal, but there's no way any of us could place this city on a map. We couldn't even place this country. Or the continent."

"That's still pretty cool," I said. "Anyway, let's go." We exited the alley and turned onto the street, heading off in a random direction. We soon found ourselves downtown, though the city was most definitely considerably smaller than New York. Yang stopped suddenly, staring down the street.

"That doesn't seem right," she said. When I looked at her, she was wearing a serious expression for the first time since she'd arrived on Earth. I followed her gaze, and my blood ran cold when I saw a figure much larger than the mortals, who were milling about obliviously, enjoying Boston's nightlife.

"I thought you said there were no more giants," Weiss said, glaring at Percy.

"They should all be dead," I told her. "At least, as dead as immortals can get. They might be back in a few millennia or so."

"Not important right now," Yang said, cracking her knuckles. "I'm gonna go see who that is and what he wants." She quickened her pace, making a beeline for the giant. The rest of us followed to keep up.

When Yang got close, the evening took a turn for the worse. Fire suddenly spread out from around the giant, melting the sidewalk and incinerating any mortals unlucky enough to be close by. When the flames died down, I saw that the giant was wearing leather armour and a belt loaded with weapons. His skin was the colour of obsidian, and he wielded a sword big enough to be used as a plough. He stood around ten feet tall, and Yang grew to match his height.

"And just who in Hades are you supposed to be?" she asked loudly, cocking Ember Celica, which had matched her increase in size.

"I am an eldjotnar," the giant replied. From where I was standing, around twenty feet away, I could feel the heat emanating from his body. His voice had a booming quality to it, seeming to reverberate in my skull. "I serve Lord Surt to release the Wolf and begin Ragnarok."

"I'm just gonna pretend that makes sense," Yang told him. I was on the same page; I'd never heard of any of the terms he'd mentioned. Ragnarok sounded vaguely familiar, though... One of my uncles was obsessed with Norse mythology, I might've heard the word from him when I was very young.

Before anything else happened, I heard a sound like a thunderclap and a new figure dropped from the sky, landing between Yang and the giant. He wore a leather jerkin, with dark iron gauntlets on the end of very muscular arms. His red hair reached his shoulders, and his armour was a chain mail vest. In one hand he held a hammer.

"Back to Muspelheim with you," he growled, whacking the giant in the head with the hammer. The eldjotnar was launched into the air like a baseball, and actually seemed to vanish into thin air. "Fucking giants," the new arrival muttered, turning around. He came face-to-face with a very angry, very confused Yang.

"Wanna explain to me why you just stole my thunder?" she demanded.

"I was protecting you," the redhead replied stoically. "Those big pricks are always invading Midgard from Jotunheim or Muspelheim. Most of the time you don't notice, cause you're all a bunch of dumbasses."

"If I hear one more fake word, I'm gonna start throwing punches."

"Wait a minute... No one from Midgard is that tall. You're definitely not Asgardian. What the Helheim are you?" the redhead asked.

"I warned you," came Yang's reply, followed swiftly by a vicious right hook augmented by a shotgun blast. The redhead went flying across the street, crashing through a building. The poor man stood up shakily.

"Nice arm you got there," he said, walking back across the street towards Yang. "But I'm a child of Odin. You can't beat me." Odin? I thought. That's impossible. The redhead swung his hammer at Yang's head with full force. She raised her arm to block the blow, but she was too late. The hammer slammed into the side of her head, impacting with a rather sickening crunch. Yang's now slightly-deformed head was wrenched to the side, but she remained in place. "How did you...?" the redhead asked, dumbfounded. "I hit you with Mjolnir..."

Yang's head snapped back into place as it returned to its normal shape, now adorned with a smile and burning crimson eyes. She threw another punch, but this time the redhead blocked it with his hammer. When it connected with Yang's fist, a shockwave went out, knocking the rest of the Hunters, Percy and I off our feet, as well as shattering all the glass on the street and cracking the pavement.

"Who is this guy?" Jaune groaned. Before I could answer, I saw Nora already on her feet, charging the redhead as Magnhild unfolded in her hands.

"Yang, get down!" she yelled. Yang ducked while Nora jumped over her, bringing Magnhild down on the other hammer-wielder, increasing the force by discharging a blast. The weird guy buckled, and Nora stared down at him, smiling maniacally.

"You. I like you," he said weirdly. "But I still have to- wait a minute..."

"Explain who you are and what you're doing here," Yang demanded.

"You seem... no, you can't be," the redhead told Nora, completely ignoring Yang. "Are you... one of my daughters?"

"Do as my friend says," Nora replied. "Or we'll break your legs!"

"Fine," the man said, getting unsteadily to his feet. He dropped his hammer as he continued, "I am Thor, son of Odin, heir to the throne of Asgard and god of lightning. I protect Midgard from the fire giants of Muspelheim and frost giants of Jotunheim. And unless I'm very much mistaken, this young lady..." He paused and gestured at Nora. "Is my daughter."


	2. Chapter 2

**Nora**

"And unless I'm very much mistaken, this young lady... is my daughter." When I heard that, my mind shattered, like the skulls of Grimm I hit with Magnhild. I'd never known my father, and my mother had died when I was young. I'd grown up with Ren, treating his parents like my own. Now the guy whom I'd just smashed with a hammer was saying I'm his _daughter_?

"You're not the god of lightning," Yang said. "Lord Zeus is. And you're not him. You look _far_ too undignified to be him."

"Silence, bimbo. I answered your damn question, so answer mine," Thor told her. "Who or what the Helheim are you?"

"You call me a bimbo again and I'm dragging you to Tartarus."

"Yang?" Blake called from behind us. "Maybe just answer so you don't end up destroying the city."

"I'm Yang Xiao Long, goddess of combat and Huntress in training. I'm from Remnant, and I did a bunch of badass stuff a few weeks ago."

"There is no goddess of that name."

"Did you say your name is Thor?" Annabeth suddenly asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"So you're a Norse god? Worshipped by Vikings?"

"Of course, _f_ _í_ _fl_ ," Thor snapped. I was pretty sure he was the only one who knew what _f_ _í_ _fl_ meant. "What other gods are there?"

"Greek ones," Annabeth told him. "And the ones from Remnant, who were made goddesses by the Greek gods. I mean Yang, her sister, her friend and her girlfriend."

"How can you be my dad?" I blurted out suddenly. "Have you ever been to Remnant?"

"What is Remnant? That's not a friggin' place!"

"It's another world," Ruby said.

"Can't be. There's nine worlds," Thor insisted. "Midgard, this one. Asgard, my home. Muspelheim, where that fiery prick came from. Jotunheim, where the icy jackasses are. Helheim, which is a bit shit. Nidavellir, full of midgets. No, wait, it's full of dwarves. Vanaheim, with all the boring peaceful gods. Niflheim, which is sketchy because you can't see anything. Too damn foggy. And there's Alfheim, with the pointy-eared dudes."

"So which one is Remnant?" Yang asked.

"None of them!" Thor yelled. "It's clearly not a real place!"

"Then how are you my dad?!"

"Everyone, _calm down_!" Weiss yelled. Everybody was silent immediately, and turned to face her. "It seems as though we have to accept that multiple paradigms of gods exist, even if they appear to contradict each other."

"Explains Chiron's reports," Annabeth pointed out. "But does this mean the Egyptian gods are real too?"

"Maybe," Percy said. "I could've sworn I once saw a flying reed boat heading for a mansion on top of a building in Brooklyn. That's definitely nothing to do with Greeks or Romans, and I don't think Vikings sailed reed boats."

"I still want my question answered," I announced, maybe more forcefully than necessary.

"About seventeen or eighteen Midgardian years ago, I met a woman," Thor started. "At first, she seemed like any other woman from Midgard, but I soon realised she was... _more_. I never knew what it was. We banged a few times, then she said she was going on an adventure and I never saw her again. Maybe she was from Remnant, and somehow ended up in Midgard, then went home and had you?"

"The two of you _do_ seem very much alike," Ren said. "Red hair, electricity Semblance and god of lightning, hammers, choice of words..."

"So I'm a demigod now? Cool!" I exclaimed.

"Nora?" Jaune said. "If he's your dad, wouldn't that mean you've always been a demigod?"

"He's right," Annabeth agreed. "Hold on, back in a minute…" She hurried down the street, towards a figure I could just about make out. It didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. The rest of us stood around idly, the sudden silence deafeningly loud.

"You got a good swing," Yang told Thor, breaking the tension. "Haven't had that much fun in a while."

"I've never seen anyone take a hit from Mjolnir and stay on their feet. Most impressive," Thor replied. "But you. Daughter," he said, turning to face me. "What's your name?"

"Nora Valkyrie."

"You're kidding," Thor said, clearly shocked. " _Valkyrie_?"

"What is it?" I asked.

"They're a race of female warriors who bring honoured dead to Valhalla," he explained. "It's just a surprising coincidence that you'd have that name."

Just then, Annabeth returned with the person she'd gone to see. I now saw that it was a guy with Annabeth's blonde hair and grey eyes, dressed in scruffy jeans and a sweater. He surveyed us carefully as Annabeth began to speak.

"Guys, this is my cousin Magnus," she announced. "Magnus, this is my boyfriend Percy and our friends Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. As for the dude with the hammer, you can just call him Thor."

"Why is your friend so tall?" Magnus asked. "Also, is that the actual Thor?" It was at that point that I realised Yang had never returned to her normal size, and was still several feet taller than everyone else.

"How can it be the actual Thor?" Annabeth replied, trying to act casual. "Gods aren't real, and he doesn't exactly look like the movie one."

"Annabeth, I'm not as clueless as mortals."

"I didn't say you- Wait, what?" She sounded incredulous, presumably because of Magnus' choice of words.

"I know about the Norse gods still being around," Magnus pressed on. "So is it really him?"

"You seem like an _einherjar_ ," Thor replied. "Yes, I'm the genuine article."

"A what now?" Yang asked. She still hadn't bothered to shrink.

"Warrior reborn in Valhalla, destined to fight alongside the gods during Ragnarok," Magnus explained. "I died and came back stronger. You still haven't explained why you're so tall."

"What, are people here not allowed to be tall?" she replied indignantly. "I just have freakishly large bones."

"Well," Annabeth said. "We know about the Norse gods. Magnus should know about the Greek ones." She explained everything that had happened to her over the last few years, even giving details none of us Hunters had heard before. Her cousin's face remained impassive, only displaying any sort of emotion when Annabeth got to the part about Team RWBY being elevated to immortality. "Any questions?" she asked when she was done.

"So Greco-Roman mythology is true," Magnus said slowly. "What about other religions? Zoroastrianism? Native American stories? What else is real?"

"We don't know. We only just found out about the Norse gods' existence," Percy replied. "I still can't wrap my head around it."

"Everyone shut up for a minute," Yang suddenly snapped, now finally back to her normal size. She had her eyes closed, and was pressing her fingers to her temples as if she had a headache. Could goddesses get headaches?

"What is-" Blake started to say, before she clutched her hands to her head. I looked at Ruby and Weiss, both of whom now had their eyes clenched shut and their teeth gritted, like they were in agonising pain.

"Is everything okay?" Pyrrha asked gently, laying a hand on Blake's arm. All four goddesses suddenly relaxed, breathing heavily.

"No... Definitely not..." Blake told her.

"What happened?" Jaune asked, apparently terrified. He was probably scared of whatever it was that could affect Team RWBY like that. I wanted to meet the person or thing, and have a fight.

"Remember how we told you we can sense when someone crosses between Remnant and here?" Ruby said. I nodded.

"That was like... I can't even describe it," Weiss told us.

"Usually people slip through the cracks in reality," Blake explained. "Delivery boys will go down the wrong alley and literally show up a world away, sleepover rituals will go wrong, that sort of thing. That, though..."

"That was like someone, or more likely some _thing_ , took a nuclear bomb to the walls between worlds and smashed straight through," Yang offered. "I have no idea what it could have been."

"One of the Olympians?" Percy suggested.

"Nah, they've got doorways and shortcuts and stuff. We barely notice on the rare occasion that they go sightseeing."

"Could you tell which way this thing went?" Jaune asked.

"From here to Remnant," Weiss told him. "If it had been the other way round, it would almost certainly have been much worse. We have to warn Ozpin." A window through space appeared in front of her, revealing the Headmaster's face.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked, not sounding surprised by the sudden appearance of Weiss' face in his office.

"Something powerful just decided to visit Remnant," the heiress told him. "It was unlike anything I've ever felt."

"Do you know what it was?"

"No, we only sensed its crossing. It seemed big, though," Ruby answered. "Scary big."

"Do you think it is worth cutting your trip short?"

"Probably not. You guys should be fine, just strengthen the school's defences and maybe try to find anything out of the ordinary," Yang told him.

"I'll have everyone on their guard," Ozpin promised.

"Good. Contact us if you discover anything," Ruby told him.

"I will. Enjoy yourselves." The image vanished, leaving the twelve of us wondering what to do.

"So... Everything good now?" Jaune asked.

"Apart from Remnant possibly being in danger, yeah, everything's peachy," Yang told him. "But with all the Dust there is there, and the Hunters, not to mention Atlas' army, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Hey, guys?" Magnus asked suddenly. "Why is every window on this street shattered?"

"Because that's what happens when Thor's hammer meets my epicness," Yang explained.

"There was a misunderstanding. Yang and Thor fought. Thor blocked a punch with the hammer. Shockwave went out," Blake said.

"Why did you fight?" Magnus asked.

"I'm the goddess of combat. That's only _slightly_ less stupid than asking why Ares would fight someone," Yang said.

"Greek war god," Annabeth helpfully chimed in, seeing Magnus' blank look. "Anyway, you busy?"

"Nah. Why?"

"We're going on a trip around the world. Wanna come?"

"According to the mortals, I'm dead," Magnus said. "Why the Helheim not?"

"Okay, is Helheim like hell?" Jaune asked. "Or when the Greek demigods say Hades but they don't mean the god?"

"Yup," Thor told him. "Helheim's really shitty. But don't tell anyone I said that, or I'll kick your ass."

Suddenly, an Iris-message from Chiron appeared.

"Okay, what is with all these damn window things?" Magnus almost yelled.

"Never mind that," Annabeth snapped. "Chiron. Everything okay?"

"No. You're needed in Manhattan. Now." He sounded so serious it was almost scary. "You'll understand when you get there." The image vanished and was quickly replaced by a portal.

"Get moving," Ruby ordered. "Thor, you come too."

"You don't order me around," the god told her indignantly. She looked at Yang for help. The blonde grabbed Thor's wrist and practically threw him through the portal, and he was only just able to grab his hammer before he disappeared. The rest of us followed and found something very wrong.

_**Brooklyn, around half an hour earlier** _

**Sadie**

Relaxing on the balcony after a long day teaching Americans magic was just about my favourite way to spend my evenings. Brooklyn was a rather nice place, though I still wanted to go to Manhattan. The Empire State Building still occasionally had weird lights flashing around it, so I reckoned Carter and I should probably stop faffing about and investigate. Or maybe I'd just send him, and give him a bollocking if he refused.

"Sadie," a voice behind me said. _Speak of the annoying devil, and he shall appear. Unfortunately._ "You heard from Isis lately?" My brother, for once in his life, actually brought up a good point. I hadn't heard from my best friend the goddess in _ages_ , now that I thought about it.

"No. What about Horus?"

"Worryingly silent. Usually he at least shows up and says hi."

"Yeah, I miss Isis popping in for a chat, to be honest."

"That would've sounded really bad to anyone who doesn't know the gods are real," Carter pointed out. I couldn't help but laugh at the reference to what the mortals called a serious problem, considering we'd literally rescued everybody more than once. The mortals did still have their issues, but giving a proper good spanking to the Chaos Snake really put things into perspective.

"Anyway. Got any news?" I asked.

"Nah. Just been hanging out, training, you know. Stuff like –"

A sudden bright light and sonic boom caused him to stop short. A look in the direction of Long Island showed a large fireball streaking towards the ground, lighting up the dark waters of the Sound.

"What the..." I said slowly. "Investigate?"

"Good idea," Carter agreed. We sprinted to our respective rooms to grab our stuff and headed out, very stupidly deciding to hail a taxi. Neither of us had that much money, but I decided to worry about that later. As was typical of a big city, there was rather a lot of traffic, so it took twenty-five minutes just to get into Manhattan. Carter and I spent the ride in silence, both anxious.

"You kids going to see the meteorite?" the cab driver asked.

"Yes." I hoped my tone conveyed my current feeling towards talking. It seemed to, since the driver didn't say anything else. About a block later, the screaming started. I looked out the window and saw people running every which way, trying to escape something I couldn't see. I didn't have long to look, though; a giant, bright yellow stinger suddenly crashed through the roof of the car, narrowly missing all three of us. It got stuck as the tail retracted, lifting the taxi with it

"Get out!" Carter yelled. I opened the door on my side and fell several feet, landing hard on the road next to what appeared to be a giant scorpion covered in bone armour. I decided it was too big to exist, and promptly set about trying to destroy it.

" _Ha-di_ ," I said, pointing at its face. The hieroglyph for _destroy_ appeared, glowing blue, and suddenly exploded. The thing recoiled slightly, but didn't seem overly bothered.

"Sadie! Out of the way!" Carter bellowed from behind me. I rolled sideways and saw his avatar's _khopesh_ bury itself in the scorpion's back, causing the thing to shudder wildly. Carter pulled out the sword and cut off its stinger, and I got my staff out of my bag. I waved it at the scorpion and smiled while it shrank, watching it scuttle about. I stomped on it and felt its tiny bones break under my foot.

"Crisis averted," I announced, pleased with myself. I was immediately proven wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

_**On Remnant, in a warehouse near Vale** _

_Well, this is rather good, isn't it? Brand new world where no one's heard of me, no pesky magicians to stop me and some new compatriots to follow my orders._

Looking at the portal I'd created earlier, I smiled. This world's creatures were being shepherded through by my demons, ready to wreak havoc for the _Per Ankh_.

"My lord?" The leader of my local followers was staring at me intently. "When do we set about conquering _this_ world?"

"Very soon, Miss Fall," I told her. "Once I'm sure I wasn't followed."

"Why are you sending Grimm to where you came from?" Her orange eyes seemed to be trying to pierce through me.

"Because... I think they'll give the Kanes some trouble. Keep them occupied there and I can do as I like here. Remnant will collapse into chaos, and you, Miss Fall, will be the instrument of its demise."

She grinned. When I'd met her, she had already been planning conquest. Now... She would help me destroy her world, and maybe I'd even let her live when I'd finished.

_**Brooklyn, New York** _

**Percy**

"Are these Grimm?" I yelled. Ruby's portal had dropped us the middle of what looked like a war zone of some kind. A few dozen large black creatures were lumbering around everywhere, destroying cars and randomly attacking civilians.

"Yup," Yang said calmly. "Now man up and fight!"

She launched herself at a large bear-like creature with spikes on its back and punched it, knocking it into a giant scorpion. She followed at high speed, delivering another punch which obliterated the bear and made the scorpion collapse. She was about to finish it off when a twenty-foot tall, translucent avatar with a hawk's head and a kid floating in its midsection swung a curved sword into the scorpion's head, killing it instantly. Yang turned in surprise and glared at the mysterious glowing thing.

"Who in Hades are you?" she demanded.

"Get out of here, it's not safe," the avatar replied. Yang didn't get a chance to reply, because a Grimm that looked like a boar curled itself into a ball and rolled towards her, almost too fast for me to see. The goddess simply turned to face the threat and met it with a forcefully-extended fist. The boar lost all its momentum while Yang wasn't fazed at all, and landed spread-eagled on its back. Yang planted a foot on its chest and grabbed one of its tusks. In a single fluid motion, she snapped it clean off and impaled the boar through its neck.

"All right, guys, spread out and fight!" Ruby suddenly yelled. "Leave the Deathstalkers, King Taijitus and Alpha Ursai to us immortals!"

"What about the big prick?" Yang asked. "Do I beat him up or what?"

"We'll wait til the Grimm are dealt with, then figure out who he is," Ruby told her.

"Percy, Annabeth, don't try to fight the scorpions, two-headed snakes or spiky bears," Blake told us. "Other than that, good luck."

I turned my attention to a Grimm that looked like how werewolves were usually portrayed and uncapped Riptide, swinging the celestial bronze blade with all my might. It cleaved straight through the Grimm's chest, and the beast quickly began to turn to smoke. I grinned, pleased with myself, and spun in time to block a claw strike from a Grimm that looked like the one I'd just killed. I was about to try an attack of my own when I heard a roar and a lion tackled my opponent to the ground and tore into its throat, killing it instantly.

"Good kitty," a distinctly British voice yelled.

"Where'd that lion come from?" Annabeth asked.

"Who cares?" Nora replied. "We'll deal with it later! Right now we have bitches to smash!"

She emphasised her point by swinging Magnhild into one of the boar-like Grimm, using the hammer like a golf club to send the beast flying. A shot from Crescent Rose finished it off.

"You're damn good with that hammer, girl," Thor told her. "Maybe one day I'll let you use Mjolnir." He swung his own hammer into one of the spiky bears – Alpha Ursai, Ruby had said, right? – and a lightning bolt hit it at the same time. The bear fell, twitching as it began to evaporate.

Suddenly, I was knocked to the ground. The impact jarred me, and my vision swam for a moment. When I could see clearly, I saw Blake with both swords out, staring down a Deathstalker. With a quick warning to me about paying attention, she went on the attack. She took a running jump at it and slashed at its face, before releasing so many of her shadow clones the scorpion was practically invisible. Dozens of Blakes fell upon the Grimm and it died in seconds, leaving me awestruck at just how much power the Olympians had granted Team RWBY along with their immortality.

With five deities, a prodigy, a crazy girl with a hammer, a random lion and the big blue dude, the Grimm didn't stand a chance. Annabeth and I weren't even needed; the others were mowing enemies down so quickly there was nothing for us to do. Soon, all that was left to show there had been a battle at all was the wanton destruction it had caused.

"Good thing Horus and Isis decided to help," the British voice said. With the chaos over, I was now able to see that it belonged to a girl, about thirteen years old, who stood next to the avatar thing, petting her lion.

"Isis?" I asked. "Aren't they like… y'know…"

"I mean the _goddess_ Isis, you prat. Oh, and Carter, enough with the avatar. They're gonna reckon you're compensating."

"I've never heard of a goddess named Isis…" Annabeth said slowly, her brow furrowing. Meanwhile, the avatar vanished, leaving an African-American kid standing next to the British girl. He looked about fifteen, and was staring at our group suspiciously.

"There isn't one," Yang said. "We've met basically all the gods, and we know who the rest are."

"I don't think you've met any gods," the African-American kid told her.

"I _am_ a goddess, so quit making assumptions."

"Yang, keep it civil," Blake said.

"A goddess called Yang?" the Brit said doubtfully.

"Long story," Yang replied. "Why do you have a lion, and what was with this dude's avatar? Actually, who in Hades are you two, anyway?"

"I'm Sadie Kane, this is my brother Carter. We're magicians from the House of Life."

"The what?" Ruby asked.

"Wasn't that some Egyptian cult from way back when?" Annabeth asked. I wasn't even surprised that she knew that.

"Not _wasn_ _'_ _t_ , _is_ ," Carter corrected her. "And we're not a cult. We practice magic to preserve the balance of Ma'at and Isfet in the world."

"So first the Greek gods are real," Thor said. "Now Egyptians are joining the party? This can't possibly be a good thing."

"What does he mean, _Greek gods are real_?" Sadie asked.

"He means that the Olympian gods exist and are still around," Annabeth explained. "My mother's one of them. Olympus is now on the Empire State Building and the Underworld is in Los Angeles."

"Explains the flashing lights in Manhattan," Sadie said. "Anything else we need to know?"

"Norse gods are real too," I said. "That dude over there is Thor."

"Also, there's another world called Remnant, which my team and I are from," Ruby said. "We're goddesses because Zeus thought we deserved it after saving the world a few weeks ago."

"So do we get to know your names?" Carter asked.

"I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon," I said.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

"Magnus Chase. Annabeth's cousin, son of Frey and one of the _einherji_." The Kanes looked about as clueless as the rest of us had upon hearing that word.

"Jaune Arc. Leader of Team JNPR."

"Pyrrha Nikos. Mistral regional champion and Jaune's partner. Not romantically."

"Nora Valkyrie. Apparently Thor is my dad."

"Lie Ren. Nora's adoptive brother."

"Ruby Rose. Leader of Team RWBY and goddess of cookies."

"Did you just say _goddess of cookies_?" Sadie asked. Ruby nodded proudly.

"Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and goddess of Dust."

"Blake Belladonna. Goddess of stealth."

"Yang Xiao Long. Goddess of combat, Ruby's half-sister, Blake's girlfriend and Beacon Academy's resident badass."

"I thought _I_ was the badass?" Nora said.

"Well, I didn't see you fighting a two-hundred-foot tall dude from the dawn of time. And kicking his ass," Yang pointed out.

"Never mind that," Annabeth told them. "The important thing is that now we know the Egyptian paradigm exists as well as the Greek and Norse ones."

"I think there's a more important matter at hand," Weiss said. "Grimm just travelled from Remnant to here. That doesn't happen naturally."

"And we didn't sense it, which means we can't deal with it quickly if it happens again," Blake said.

"Right after you felt something powerful go to Remnant?" Annabeth asked. "I refuse to believe that's a coincidence."

"I'll go check on things over there," Ruby said.

"I'll come with you," Weiss announced. She and Ruby vanished through a portal, which promptly disappeared. Carter and Sadie stared at where the two goddesses had just been, eyes wide.

"So," I said, breaking the sudden tension. "Magicians."

"Yeah," Carter said. "I didn't believe it either, when our uncle told us who we really are."

"And who's that?" Yang asked.

"We're descendants of two of the most powerful bloodlines in history." Sadie's chest puffed slightly with pride as she spoke. "But it's really bloody annoying at times, because gods are always trying to kill us."

"Let's not forget the demons," Carter reminded her. "And the rebel magicians who don't think we should be running the House."

"Has anything of global importance happened concerning the Egyptian gods?" Blake asked.

"Set tried to destroy North America," Carter replied. "We stopped him."

"Then Ra came back," Sadie said. "Then we defeated Apophis."

"Annabeth? You understand any of that?" I asked. My girlfriend shrugged, clearly frustrated. I realised it was the second time in that day when she'd been in a conversation she hadn't understood most of. The Kanes apparently couldn't be bothered elaborating.

"Let's just say the world didn't get destroyed by Isfet because we stopped the Serpent," Carter said.

"You mean the World Snake?" Thor asked. "He's still sleeping. And trust me, you kids couldn't beat _that_ son of a bitch."

"No, you pleb, the _Chaos_ Snake," Sadie told him. "Apophis. He wanted to swallow the sun." Our conversation was suddenly halted by the appearance of Ruby's face in front of Yang and Blake.

"It's not good over here," she said frantically. "Ozpin wants everyone back."

"All right, let's go," Yang groaned. "Percy? Annabeth? Magicians? Thor? You coming?"

"I can't," Thor said. "I must stay here and protect Midgard from giants. And now Grimm, apparently. We will meet again." He wandered off.

"Coming to Remnant? Fuck yeah, I am," I said. "Annabeth?"

She smiled as she spoke. "Thought we'd never get invited."

"We're coming too," Sadie said. "We need to know everything that's going on."

"All right," Blake said. "Let's go."

Five minutes later, I was in a large circular office which was apparently inside a clock tower, based on the massive clockwork I could see through the glass floor and ceiling. The silver-haired man Team RWBY had spoken to earlier was seated at a large desk, with a panoramic window behind him. There were several pillars in the room, one of which had a man leaning against it. He introduced himself as Ruby and Yang's uncle Qrow and was eyeing Annabeth, Magnus, the Kanes and I suspiciously. Standing beside the desk was a stern-looking blonde woman wearing glasses and holding what appeared to be a riding crop. I wondered if any students ever made jokes at her expense as a result of said crop, or if she was too scary for anyone to dare.

"Welcome to Remnant. I am Professor Ozpin." The professor's voice sounded far younger than his silver hair suggested. "I wish we could be meeting under better circumstances, but alas. It is not to be."

"Ozpin's filled Glynda and I in," Qrow said. "You four said something powerful showed up here. Well, you can bet your ass it's powerful. Or should I say _he's_ powerful?"

"You know who it is?" Ruby asked.

"No. I haven't seen him. But I've heard him speak."

"I had Qrow out tracking our priority target, codenamed 'Queen'," Ozpin explained. "He followed her to a warehouse and heard Queen and two of her underlings swearing allegiance to an unseen party."

"I've seen what Queen can do," Qrow said, "and she's no softie. But the fear in her voice when she was swearing fealty... I'm almost afraid of whoever this guy is."

"Gotta get some of that liquid courage, Qrow!" Yang told him cheerfully.

"Miss Xiao Long!" the blonde woman snapped. "Do not encourage your uncle!" I wondered if snapping at a goddess was the best idea, but then realised that this woman possibly didn't know whom she was speaking to.

"Sorry, professor," Yang muttered.

"Also in that warehouse were some of the most fucked-up looking creatures I've ever seen, herding Grimm through a portal," Qrow said. "They weren't from Remnant." He narrowed his eyes at Annabeth and I, as though we'd somehow made whatever creatures he was talking about. "There's some weird shit in your world."

"Has anything happened here?" Sadie asked.

"Terrorist attacks and organised crime have been going on for a while. Possibly related to Queen," the blonde woman said. "It would be nice if we at least knew who she _is_."

"Patience, Glynda," Ozpin said. "We'll get through whatever this is. We always have."

"Who's _we_ , and what do you mean by 'always'?" Weiss demanded.

"Some of Remnant's teachers and headmasters form a group dedicated to protecting the world from threats no one else even knows about," Qrow said. "And now that you're all in on it, we need your signatures."

"Qrow," Ozpin said, clearly exasperated. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he continued, "we don't need anything like that. What we do need is absolute secrecy. This group does not exist outside this office. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," we all muttered in unison.

"Anyway, Ruby, Yang," Qrow said. "Have you told your father?"

"What can we say?" Ruby asked. " _Hey dad, we just became immortal so now you never get to see us grow up and we're gonna be killing Grimm and saving the world for all eternity_?"

"Taiyang deserves to know," Qrow told her. "Anyway, I got a date. Call me if you need anything." He walked over to the elevator and pushed the down button, entering as soon as the door opened.

"Uncle Qrow's got a date?" Ruby asked.

"Knowing him, it's with the bottom of a shot glass or a beer bottle," Glynda said.

"That will be all for now," Ozpin told us. His tone indicated dismissal.

"So... You guys gonna show us around?" I asked.

"Come on," Yang said, gesturing towards the elevator. "Let's show you why we fight so much better than you."

"Miss Nikos? We would like a word with you in private." Pyrrha halted at the sound of Ozpin's voice.

"Of course, Professor," she said, ever the paragon of politeness. If I hadn't known she was from Remnant, I would've assumed she was Canadian. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

The rest of us crammed into the elevator and descended, taking the first step on what Ruby announced would be a "series of wonderful tour stops and activities".


	4. Chapter 4

**Annabeth**

"Why didn't you guys tell us you'd done this to your room?" Nora yelled indignantly.

The first stop on the Hunters' tour of Remnant had been Team RWBY's dorm room at Beacon Academy. It resembled a living room, with a large couch in the middle, facing the window and flanked by end tables, some lamps in the corners, and a box that somewhat resembled a gaming console on the windowsill. It didn't appear to be connected to anything, but it was possible that the box had a different function altogether. In one wall was a large wooden door with Blake and Yang's emblems carved into it. The opposite wall had another door.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Our room is just one room, not including the bathroom," Jaune said. "All four of our beds are there, and we don't have nearly as much space as this."

"Yeah..." Yang said. "We decided to expand a little when we got back. If you guys had come over sooner you would've found out, and maybe we would've been nice to you."

"I don't need your charity," Jaune insisted. "Last time any of you got me a present..." All the other Hunters cracked up, while Jaune tried to look annoyed.

"The dress thing?" I asked, remembering the story Yang had told the night she'd punched Cardin across the barrier between Earth and Remnant. The goddess in question nodded, while Weiss looked at Jaune as if to say, _what? It was technically an expensive gift._

"Anyway, you guys don't need to see our room," Ren told us.

"Hang on, you lot." Sadie was standing in front of the main door, staring at the rest of us. "What's this _dress thing_? Why's it so funny?"

"It's not," Jaune said, blushing slightly.

"Not long after we became goddesses, Weiss turned all Jaune's clothes into dresses," Blake explained. "Kind of a long story."

"Right. Okay," Sadie said, looking more confused than before. "Where are we going next?"

"The cliffs!" Ruby announced cheerfully. "You get an awesome view of the Emerald Forest, and we might even see a giant Nevermore!" Sadie opened the door, and Ruby was gone in a red flash and shower of rose petals. Weiss set off at a brisk pace, leaving the rest of us to follow.

"So, guys, you need to explain some stuff," Carter said. "I can sort of get my head around this different-worlds thing. But you guys saving the world? Team RWBY becoming goddesses? What's all that about?"

"That'll take a while. But only if you let Annabeth tell the story." Percy sounded altogether too pleased with himself about that comment. I glared at him, but he was marvelling at Beacon Academy's riveting hallway design.

"My mother is Athena, goddess of wisdom," I told the Kanes. "Percy's dad is Poseidon, god of the sea. Last summer, the Titan Cronus, The Lord of Time, raised an army to destroy the Olympian gods and reshape the world in his image."

"Why would Doctor Who want to destroy some gods?" Sadie asked. The rest of us looked at her blankly. "Time Lord? Travels in a police box that's bigger on the inside? No? Okay."

"Anyway, Cronus was bitter about the time a few millennia ago, during the first Titanomachy, when his kids, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia and Demeter overthrew him and essentially took over the universe. Zeus became Lord of the Sky, Poseidon got the sea and Hades got the Underworld. He rules the kingdom of Erebus, which is guarded by a three-headed dog called Cerberus. He likes red rubber balls."

"Sure. Why not?" Carter said.

"Cerberus likes them, not Hades," Percy helpfully clarified. "So fast forward to last summer. Cronus returned to power and marched on Mount Olympus with his monster army, and a few of his Titan buddies for good measure. I helped some satyrs trap Hyperion in a tree, then later fought Cronus himself in the Olympians' throne room."

"That place is massive," Yang said. "Twelve thrones, each made to fit twenty-five-foot tall people, and they're all strangely decorated. When you're mortal, you feel very insignificant in there. Carry on."

"So Cronus, before he could reach full strength, was using the body of a guy named Luke Castellan as his physical form," I continued. "Luke briefly retook control of his body and sacrificed himself, scattering Cronus' essence, and basically making him as dead as immortals can get. So then _this_ summer, Cronus' mother, Gaea, the Earth Mother –"

"I know that name," Sadie said. "Doesn't she have like, flowers in her hair or something?"

"No, but she bleeds sand," Blake said.

"Anyway, getting back to the point," I said loudly. By now, we were outside, walking around the imposing structure of Beacon. "Gaea was mad that her children, Cronus and the other Titans, were beaten in the first Titanomachy, so she birthed some giants, fathered by the god Tartarus, to destroy the gods. They could only be killed by a god and a hero working together, and nearly defeated the Olympians a few thousand years ago."

"Naturally, they came back this summer, and we had to stop them," Percy said. "But before we knew what was going on, we were playing capture the flag in the forest next to Camp Half-Blood, where demigods live and train, and Team RWBY suddenly appeared."

"Ozpin had sent us on a mission into the forest you're about to see," Blake said. "There was a spot where the air was shimmering, so we walked into it and met the goddess Hera, but we didn't know who it was at the time."

"Can you guys hurry up?" Weiss demanded suddenly. "I don't want to deal with an impatient Ruby!"

"Calm down," Yang told her. "So anyway, we were suddenly on Earth and before we knew it, we were going on a quest to meet up with Roman demigods and free the god of death."

"Roman demigods? So the Roman gods are real too?" Sadie asked.

"No, the Roman gods are the same as the Greek ones, but with different names and slightly altered personalities," Annabeth explained. "More warlike, more disciplined, that sort of thing."

"So we did that quest, and I killed Alcyoneus, one of the giants," Yang continued. "He's the only giant who can be killed without a god's help, as long as you take him out of his homeland."

"A few weeks later, we went to Rome and found two more giants, as well as Team JNPR in a big bronze jar," Blake said. "Then Athena appeared and helped kill the two giants, and Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus. The gods' maximum security prison in the Underworld, where monsters come from."

"I thought Annabeth said Tartarus was a god?" Carter asked.

"The pit and the god of the pit have the same name," I told him.

"It was literally hell," Percy said. "We made it out and went to Athens with the others, and fought the giants and an army of monsters."

"Actually it was two armies," Yang corrected him. "One went after the demigods, who were in the city, the other came after us Hunters, who were on the Acropolis or whatever it's called. Gaea had brought Alcyoneus back, so I killed him again, and Nora smashed Porphyrion, king of the giants, with a hammer and a rather epic _boop, motherfucker_. Then the god Tartarus showed up, and I fought him with some help from Ares' blessing. Gave me an avatar like yours, Carter, but without the stupid head."

"Yang won, then we all headed to the original Mount Olympus for a final confrontation," Percy said. "That battle was tough, but the gods arrived en masse and helped kill all the giants, but unfortunately Gaea woke up fully and rose. Our friend Jason, who flies, carried her into the sky while Artemis carried our other friend Hazel to finish her off. We won."

"Then, on Olympus, there was an awards ceremony," Yang said. "Zeus offered me immortality for beating Alcyoneus twice, beating Tartarus and fighting Porphyrion by his side. I said I'd take it if the rest of the team got it too. The Olympians made us into goddesses."

"A few weeks after that, we came back here to travel the world with Percy and Annabeth," Blake said. "We immediately ran into a Norse fire giant, Thor and Magnus, then felt the very powerful thing Qrow was talking about come over here. We then heard about the Grimm attack in Brooklyn, and you know the rest."

"So those buggers are from here?" Sadie asked.

"Yup. Huntsmen and Huntresses kill them for a living," Yang said. "Beacon is one of the schools that trains them. Qrow's a full-fledged one, and totally badass."

No more conversation took place, because just then we arrived at the cliff we'd been heading to. Below us spanned an immense forest, the leaves so vibrantly green that I could tell immediately why it was called the Emerald Forest. A gust of wind rippled the tree canopy. The forest was breathtakingly beautiful, and I couldn't help but wonder why Team RWBY hadn't brought us here sooner.

"Nice, huh?" Yang asked. "We almost died in there. Jaune screamed like a girl." Her last comment made me think she might have also been the goddess of embarrassing stories.

"So many cool things happened in there," Ruby said wistfully.

"You made me set part of it on fire," Weiss deadpanned.

"Oh yeah." The accompanying giggle from Ruby reminded me just how much of a kid she still was, even though she was now one of the most powerful people in her world.

"Hey, what's this?" Percy's voice drew my attention away from the forest. I turned around and saw him tapping a metal plate with his foot. There was a symbol engraved on it: two crossed axes and a ring around them.

"Percy. Don't touch that," Blake warned. I looked at the other Hunters. Weiss was indifferent, Ruby, Jaune and Ren seemed slightly concerned, and Nora and Yang had mischievous grins on their faces, like they knew something the rest of us didn't.

"Why noAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Percy screamed as he was suddenly launched through the air by the plate very forcefully rotating. Yang and Nora cracked up while Blake looked at me sympathetically.

"I warned him," she said wistfully.

"I'll go get him," Ruby said.

"No need," Carter announced. He took a running jump off the edge of the cliff and turned into a falcon, to my general astonishment. He flew towards Percy at speed, changing back to his normal form when he caught up.

"What does he plan to do now?" I asked, speaking more to Sadie than anyone else. No one needed to answer, because I could just make out Carter's avatar springing into existence below Percy before the two of them disappeared into the trees. A second later, a flock of annoyed birds flew away from where the boys had landed. "So... Are they safe down there?"

"Depends on how hungry the Grimm are," Yang said. "Someone should probably go rescue them."

"I'm on it." Ruby had barely finished speaking when she disappeared once more. Not too long after, Carter returned in falcon form and landed next to Sadie before turning back into a human.

"Why is it that when _you_ don't think things through they always work out?" he asked his sister.

"What'd you cock up this time?" Sadie was clearly hard-pressed to contain her laughter as she spoke.

"I caught him just fine, but then I realised I had no way of bringing him back up here."

"So your avatar has a chicken head, but no wings?" Yang asked, her face adorned with a cheeky grin.

"Falcon head!" Carter insisted. "Like Horus!"

"That's a really unfortunate name," Yang told him. "But there's a giant called Clitoris, so whatever."

"Clytius," I told her. Just then, Ruby got back with Percy.

"Where?" she asked. "Didn't we beat him already?"

"Doesn't matter," Blake said.

"Hey, guys, look!" Ruby suddenly gasped, pointing out over the forest. "Nevermore!"

I looked where she was pointing and saw a giant black bird with bone armour similar to the other Grimm I'd seen. It was hard for me to judge exactly how large it was, but I would've guessed that it had about a forty-foot wingspan and could swallow a person whole, albeit not an exceptionally tall person.

"Any other scary things we need to know about?" Carter asked.

"Goliaths," Weiss said instantly. "Massive elephant-like Grimm most weapons can't even hurt."

"Technically _we_ could obliterate them," Yang said, "but using god powers is kind of cheating."

"You should just hope they never end up on Earth," Blake said grimly. "Or Midgard, whatever."

"So how powerful are the Greek gods?" Carter asked.

"Compared to the Olympians, we're pretty weak," Yang told him. She turned to face the Nevermore, which was still flying around above the forest. "And there's some deities even stronger than them. But if you want a demonstration…"

She cocked the gauntlet on her right arm and punched the air, aiming in the general direction of the massive airborne Grimm. The projectile fired from Ember Celica seemed no different than the ones she'd fired at various Gigantes, but the effect when it hit its target was unmistakeably far greater. The Nevermore erupted into white-hot flames and got knocked sideways by the blast. The fireball careened towards the treetops. It took mere seconds to reach them, but by that point it had already extinguished, leaving only ashes falling gently amongst the leaves.

"Won't someone have seen that?" Weiss asked.

"It's fine." Yang couldn't have sounded more dismissive if she'd tried. "It's not like they can prove I had anything to do with it."

"So… remind me never to piss you guys off," Jaune said in a small voice.

"Relax," Ruby told him. "What's the worst we'd do to you?"

"Let's not talk about that." Jaune looked genuinely concerned about what sort of revenge Team RWBY could come up with if he ever pissed them off. To be honest, I would be too, knowing Yang.

"Anyway, should we move on?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, there's a bunch of other cool stuff you guys need to see," Yang said. "We can go to the training room, and you might see some senior students practicing."

"They're _technically_ more skilled than us," Blake said, "with the possible exception of Pyrrha. But we would probably win in a fight, since… well… you know."

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon following the Hunters around Beacon. On the tour, they told us various stories about what had happened during their time at the school, and I couldn't help but think it seemed like a more formal version of Camp Half-Blood. We got a few strange looks from students, especially Sadie with her magic kit and Magnus with his worn, tattered clothes, but no one bothered us.

When the tour was done, Magnus, Carter, Sadie, Percy and I were shown to the guest dorms, where I was glad for the bed. This part of Remnant appeared to be several hours behind New York, so I was nearly dead on my feet by the time we were shown to our rooms. It occurred to me that I didn't have a change of clothes, but I was so tired I didn't care. I flopped down onto my bed and passed out almost instantly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Jaune**

About an hour after the tour of Remnant, Pyrrha and I headed to the roof for another of our training sessions. Something seemed off, though. I could tell her heart wasn't in it, and that something seemed to be bothering her.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, after she failed to block the third strike in a row. Usually she only let me land one hit, or two if she was feeling generous. Me hitting her three times wasn't normal. I hadn't gotten _that_ good.

"Yes, everything's... fine," she said hesitantly, not meeting my eyes.

"Pyrrha." I dropped my sword and shield, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever it is, you have people to talk to."

"It's just..." She sheathed her weapons. "Remember how hard it was to believe there was one set of gods and another world? Now there's two more sets and eight more worlds. It's a lot to take in."

"I know." I figured there was more, considering she'd been fine before her private talk with Ozpin, Goodwitch and the drunk guy, but I shrugged. "Listen, wanna get a raincheck on this? You're clearly not in the right mindset tonight."

"No, I'm fine," she insisted. "Don't quit on my account."

"All right, if you're sure."

We continued sparring for a while, but I was too worried about Pyrrha to focus, and it soon devolved into a mess. We decided a raincheck was a good idea, and went to find food.

"I bet Team RWBY will give us something," I suggested.

"Nora has her unlimited pancakes, too," Pyrrha pointed out.

"Odds of her parting with pancakes?" I asked.

"Good point."

When we reached our hallway, we knocked on Team RWBY's door. Ruby eagerly opened it and ushered us inside within seconds, and the first thing I noticed was Weiss staring with disdain at the wall that separated Blake and Yang's bedroom from the rest of the room.

"What's up, guys?" Ruby asked cheerfully.

"We're done sparring. We're hungry," I explained.

"Say no more."

As it happened, I ended up with no choice other than following that order, because my mouth was suddenly jammed open with what seemed to be about three or four chocolate chip cookies. I looked at Pyrrha, whose divine blessing had given her cookies in her hand, which she could eat normally. I glared at Ruby while biting down, catching the uneaten cookie halves as they fell.

"Why am I the butt end of so many jokes?" I asked, after swallowing the baked goodness. Actually, though, could Ruby's cookies be considered _baked_ , considering she magically conjured them as they were?

"We mean well," Ruby told me. "Anyway, how are the cookies?"

"Amazing," Pyrrha said. "Seriously. Best I've ever tasted."

"Weiss?" I asked tentatively. "Why are you glaring at Blake and Yang's bedroom?"

"I had to soundproof that wall." Her tone said the rest.

"Oh. Well then." I wasn't sure how to feel about that information.

"I still don't get it," Ruby said.

"It's fine, Ruby," Weiss told her. "Are you two staying?"

"I think I'm having an early night," Pyrrha said. "I will see you tomorrow." She was gone before anyone could reply.

"Something's up with her tonight." When I'd finished speaking, Ruby and Weiss looked at me as if I'd said something as obvious as _we're training to kill Grimm_.

"I'm actually somewhat surprised he noticed," Weiss said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"You don't notice _anything_ ," Ruby said. "I can't even describe it."

"Name _one thing_ I haven't noticed," I said.

"Where to begin..." Weiss gazed thoughtfully out the window as she spoke. "No, that's not for us to tell you... How about that time when you failed to realise that the glowing stinger of a Deathstalker was not in fact the relic?"

"That was an honest mistake!"

"Or every time Weiss demonstrated she's only interested in you as a friend?" Ruby suggested.

"Even that might be pushing it," Weiss muttered, but there was a small smile on her face so I figured she wasn't entirely serious.

"Okay, I see your point," I conceded. "But seriously. I'm worried about Pyrrha."

"I'm sure it's fine," Ruby said. "She's probably just stressed."

At that moment, the door separating the other section of the room opened, revealing a half-dressed Yang. She was only wearing very short boy shorts and a crop top that would've given my mother a heart attack if any of my sisters ever wore it. Weiss glared at her, but she didn't seem to care. The sight of her like that made me uncomfortable, and I politely took my leave.

I went to sleep that night somewhat troubled, and suffered terrible dreams. In one, I saw a figure with a shadow for a face choking Pyrrha with his bare hands while Ren and Nora's lifeless bodies lay at his feet. Their empty eyes stared at me, unseeing. Pyrrha looked around desperately for help as the air was squeezed from her body, and I found myself unable to move as I watched my best friend die right in front of me. When her limp corpse fell from her killer's hand, I became unstuck and charged at the murderer, sword at the ready. He laughed as I feebly tried to gut him, and ripped the blade from my hand. Darkness closed in around us, and I felt cold hands gripping my ankles. I was almost too scared to look down, but I felt I had to.

I instantly wished I hadn't. Ren and Nora's faces were twisted into smiles as they pulled me to the ground, and the shadowy figure touched Miló's to point to my neck. A slight amount of pressure drew blood, and I suddenly awoke in a cold sweat.

Team JNPR's dorm was quiet, save for my friends' gentle breathing. Soft snoring, in Nora's case. To my right, Pyrrha was still, but even in the semi-darkness of the room I could see that her face showed as expression of discomfort. I considered waking her, but decided she needed all the rest she could get. To my left, Nora was hugging her pillow and snoring. The sound was interspersed with muttering, mostly names of sugary foods. All I could see of Ren was the slow rise and fall of his chest.

Before long, I realised that I wouldn't be getting back to sleep, and quietly got out of bed. I got up and looked out the window, only to be met with a curious sight. A woman dressed in tight-fitting black leather was crossing the courtyard. She seemed to have come from the main building, and was heading towards the guest dorms. It was immediately obvious that she was trying not to be seen. I watched her as she approached her destination, occasionally losing sight of her as she went behind pillars. When she was gone completely, I wondered who she was.

I didn't really think too much of it, however. Instead, I lay back down on my bed and stared at the ceiling, wishing sleep would return to me. It didn't. The near-silence of the room was deafening as I waited for the sun to rise. Beacon's cooks didn't start serving breakfast until after dawn, so there was nothing for me to do until then. Minutes stretched into hours, and I found myself wondering just how serious the situation was going to get.

Pyrrha had been right. Learning that there were two more sets of gods we hadn't known about, as well as eight worlds other than Remnant and Earth was a lot to take in. Frankly, I was scared. Something was on Remnant. Something powerful enough to cause four goddesses physical pain just by coming here. And Ozpin running a secret society? That was just plain _weird_. I wondered if we were in over our heads this time.

After what seemed like days, the first rays of sunlight entered my dorm room through the gap between the curtains. As ever, Nora woke soon after. She was always awake at the crack of dawn, much like small children on their birthdays. She always seemed half-dead though, and I was strongly reminded of my nightmare when I saw the zombie-like state she was in as she walked to the bathroom. She was back soon after.

"Good morning, Jaune," she said, sounding slightly more awake than she'd seemed a minute ago. I wouldn't have called her close to fully alert though.

"Morning."

"Sleep well?" She flopped back down onto her bed as she finished speaking.

"No." My sleepless night hadn't exactly put me in the best mood for talking, so I entertained a small hope that short, one-word answers would get her to leave me alone. I knew it wasn't likely.

"Maybe you shoulda let Pyrrha kick your ass harder!" Nora suggested. "You'd've conked right out!"

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "I'll remember that for tonight."

"Anytime!" I genuinely wasn't sure if she thought I was serious or not.

A few hours later, my team, Team RWBY and the visitors from Earth were summoned to Ozpin's office. Goodwitch and the drunk guy were with the Headmaster when we arrived, and all three of them wore matching expressions. Said expressions were slightly scary in how grave they were.

"Thank you all for coming." Ozpin's voice was as serious as his face. "Queen, the target we mentioned yesterday, has made another move. We do not know if it was on the orders of her new master. Either way, we must now be on our guard."

"We have decided that Team RWBY will be spread out and join other teams of students, in order to avoid focusing our supernatural assets in one place," Glynda announced. "Furthermore, based on what we know of the demigods' and magicians' combat capabilities, we will invite them to some intensive training to better prepare them for whatever might come next."

"Problem is," Qrow said, sounding surprisingly sober, "we don't know what that will be. Or when it'll happen. So you kids need to be alert at all times."

"Are you gonna tell us what Queen's move was?" Yang asked.

"We must keep some of our secrets," Ozpin said. "But we can tell you that her power may have doubled. Even Team RWBY may have trouble if they encounter her."

"If there are no further questions, we will call up the other teams and tell you who we've assigned you to," Goodwitch said. "Whether you choose to reveal your immortality, or anything about Earth or the various paradigms of gods, is up to you."

When no one spoke, Ozpin pressed a button on his desk. A few minutes later, after the elevator opened and closed several times, depositing students four at a time, Teams CFVY, SSSN and CRDL stood in the office with us. They all looked confused about why they were here.

"Welcome. I believe you all know Teams RWBY and JNPR?" Ozpin asked. They all nodded, so he continued, "the other people here are Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Magnus Chase, Carter Kane and Sadie Kane. Why they're here is a matter for another time. All that's important now is your new assignments."

"Sir, we don't even go to school here," Sun pointed out. "No offence."

"None taken, Mr Wukong. But I've spoken with your Headmaster. He has agreed to let me give you this mission. You will be accommodated at Beacon until it is complete, even if the Vytal Festival has ended before that point."

"All right. What do we need to do?"

"Something has happened, and we need security patrols in and around Vale," Glynda said. "Each of your teams will be assigned a member of Team RWBY, who will oversee and assist you. You will treat them as you would a professional Huntsman or Huntress, and do as they say."

"With all due respect, Professor," Coco said, raising her hand, "why do we have to obey younger students? I'm not doubting their abilities, but it seems a little odd."

"That is something they will explain if they wish," Ozpin replied. "Outside of combat, it will likely be similar to normal operations. Now, we will tell you who will be accompanying you. Team CFVY, you will be joined by Yang Xiao Long. Team SSSN, by Blake Belladonna. Team JNPR, by Ruby Rose, and Team CRDL, by Weiss Schnee."

Everyone seemed happy enough with their assignments, except Weiss. She looked like she was going to explode with fury, but said nothing. I was just pleased that I'd have an actual goddess with me on the battlefield, no matter what.

"So, Coco?" Yang said, smiling. "Not _too_ much shopping when we're out there, okay?"

Returning the smile, Coco said, "Fine. But please don't blow up any more clubs."

"Students?" Ozpin said. "You are excused from class for the duration of this mission, but do not take this as an excuse to slack. You will be expected to return to your studies when this is over. Dismissed."

As soon as we were out of the office, Ruby decided we should patrol the Emerald Forest. She wasted no time in heading out, leaving my team and I to follow the trail of rose petals she left in her wake. Pyrrha looked genuinely scared as we walked, but refused to speak. This troubled me more than anything had in my life.

As we reached the Forest, the normally beautiful tree canopy seemed dark and imposing. I felt like every shadow hid a threat. Ruby was waiting for us, and it was really only her cheerful optimism that kept me going as we entered. Even Nora was silent.

Not for the first time, I thought that for once, everything would _not_ turn out fine.


	6. Chapter 6

**Coco**

To say I was confused after the meeting with Ozpin would have been an understatement. The rest of my team didn't seem any the wiser, and Yang wasn't explaining anything to us. She announced that we'd be covering the Forest of Forever Fall during the elevator ride back down to ground level.

"Before we go anywhere," Velvet said, "we need our weapons."

"Good point," Yang agreed. "Don't know how I failed to notice that."

"Anyway, is there anything you _will_ tell us?" I asked. "Anything at all would be good, really."

"Well…" Yang's face was best described as _pensive_ as she considered her next words. "Those other kids in the office aren't from around here."

"So, Haven, Vacuo, Atlas, where?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"None of them. Think _much_ further than that."

"Outside the kingdoms?" Fox asked. I was getting slightly annoyed. I knew Ozpin had said Team RWBY would explain at their own discretion, but it would've been nice if Yang would stop being cryptic.

"No. Well, yes, technically, but not in the way you mean." _Does that mean_ …

"Yang? Are you telling me they're not from Remnant?" I asked, looking her dead in the eye.

"Yup." I half-thought she was joking, but there wasn't even a hint of a smile on her face. "One of them is actually dead. Two of them are magicians."

"Okay, now I'm even more confused," Velvet said. I was with her on that count. "How can they not be from Remnant? And how can they be magicians?"

"I don't know how their magic works," Yang said. "But I do know that it does. I watched one of them turn into a bird. And summon a big avatar sort of thing."

"Hold up, we're here," I announced. By this point, we were standing outside Team CFVY's dorm room. I unlocked the door and entered, followed by the others.

"Senior dorms are bigger," Yang said. I noticed that she was smiling slightly, though, and wondered what was up with that.

"How long will we be out there?" Fox asked. "Will we need food? Camping supplies?"

"Nah, just weapons," Yang told him.

"Are we coming back at night?"

"Don't even worry about it." Somehow, her statement made me worry more than I would have, but she clearly wasn't going to explain herself. "Look, I will tell you guys everything you need to know. But it's a really long story, and you won't believe me if I tell you everything now."

"Is that a promise?" I asked. "I will be holding you to it."

"Yes, it is," Yang insisted. "But for now, it's easier to let me explain things as they become relevant."

"Okay," Fox said, attaching his weapons to his arms. "What's relevant now?"

"I'll give you more details about our mission. And by the end of the day, you'll know why Ozpin has you following my orders."

"So what's going on?" I asked. We left the dorm room before Yang spoke.

"Something very powerful from the other world I hinted at earlier decided to come to Remnant for a visit. We have it on good authority that this fellow, whoever he is, recruited some very dangerous people before sending Grimm back to where he came from. Last night, our enemies made a move, potentially putting them in a highly advantageous position. I don't know what this move was; Ozpin wouldn't tell us. What I do know is that we need to be vigilant and prepare for the next assault, which is why we're patrolling."

"And those kids?" Velvet asked. "Why are they here, and how?"

"Last time Team RWBY went on a mission, we ended up there through… _supernatural_ means," Yang said. "We met two of them and went on a quest to save the world. Exact details aren't important. Anyway, we met the others under circumstances I'll explain later, and they came here with the same supernatural means we had going there originally. They're here because of the Grimm invading their world."

"Do they know anything about the tough guy you mentioned?" Fox asked.

"The one who recruited our enemies? No. Not that I know of, anyway."

"So why Forever Fall?" I asked. "Any particular reason?"

"It's a large area, not guarded at all," Yang explained. "Perfect place to stage an attack."

"Are we expecting an attack?" Velvet sounded slightly worried.

"If there is one, we'll most likely be fine." Yang's confidence seemed to reassure the Faunus, but I still thought something was off. I was used to junior students being cocky, but this wasn't that. Yang seemed _too_ cocky, like she thought of combat as nothing more than swatting a fly.

"Are you sure?" I asked her. "Sounds like we're dealing with tough customers here."

"That's why Ozpin had me join you."

"All right, so I sort of get that," I said. "I mean, increasing our numbers makes sense. But why Team RWBY? What happened while you were away?"

"Like I said, you wouldn't believe me. I'll show you later." That didn't help, but what she muttered next only confused me more: "the gods know there'll be plenty of opportunity."

"What? What gods?" Velvet asked.

"Long story."

Yang clammed up after that, and said nothing at all during the airship ride to the Forest of Forever Fall. She was equally silent when we arrived, activating her gauntlets and heading off into the trees. I followed with my team, and wondered if she was looking for anything in particular.

"Coco." Fox's voice was quiet. He was lagging behind slightly, so I slowed my pace to let him catch up. Yang, Velvet and Yatsuhashi were further ahead, and it was likely that only the Faunus heard Fox speak.

"What's up?"

"Don't you feel like there's too much they're not telling us?"

"Yeah, I do," I said. Nothing about this mission seemed right.

"Ozpin literally said nothing about what we're doing out here. It was just 'something happened. Go patrol'."

"I know. And Yang isn't normally this quiet. But hey, she did promise to explain," I pointed out.

"Keep up, you two," Yang called back. Fox and I hurried forward to rejoin her and the others.

"So Yang," I said, "is there anything we should be on the lookout for?"

"Well, Grimm wouldn't be abnormal," she said. "But we'll still report and eliminate them. As for anything else… well, you'll know anything weird when you see it. Trust me."

Her lack of explanations was making it increasingly difficult for me to trust her, but I'd been told by Ozpin to obey her, so I didn't question her. Instead, I walked in silence until we came to a clearing. When I saw what was in it, I instantly unfolded my minigun. Yatsu drew his sword and Fox dropped into a low crouch. Velvet prepared to open her box. The whole team stood shock-still when Yang spoke a single word.

"No."

"Um, no offence, but what do you mean?" I asked. The clearing was infested with Beowolves. Luckily, they didn't seem to notice us.

"They're only Grimm."

"Yeah, and you said we'd eliminate any we saw. We even have the element of surprise!"

"It's a small horde," Yang insisted. "Don't waste your ammo or your energy. I got this."

"On your own?" Velvet asked doubtfully.

Yang didn't answer. She sprinted towards the middle of the clearing and leapt into the air. At the height of her jump, she twisted so that her fist was pointed towards the ground, and dropped like a stone. For a split second, she was invisible amongst the mass of black fur, but I distinctly heard a shotgun being fired. As the sound rang out, what appeared to be bright golden light emanated from where Yang had landed, disintegrating every Beowolf around her. She stood up and casually walked back to where I was standing with my team, pulling her Scroll out of her pocket. She typed something, and put the device away as she reached us.

"Told you I had it," she said.

"What the everloving fuck just happened?" I demanded. "How did you do that?"

"Explanation time?" Yang asked.

"You're damn right it is," I told her.

"Well, long story short, I'm a goddess."

"Excuse me?" Velvet asked. "A goddess?"

"Yep. Remember I said my team went on a quest to save that other world?"

"Yeah? You didn't tell us what from though," I pointed out.

"Well… gods over there are real. Have been for thousands of years. But their enemies are real too. Immortal giants whose sole purpose was to kill the gods. We went on a quest to stop said giants, and obviously won. After that, Zeus, king of the gods, offered me immortality as a reward for what I'd done. I'd killed one of the giants twice, helped Zeus kill another one and beat the father of the giants, so he felt I deserved it. I told him I'd take it if my team got it too. He agreed, and now Team RWBY is the most powerful Huntress team in Remnant."

"Well, I see why you said we wouldn't believe you," Yatsu said. "Do we get to know anything else?"

"There's actually several sets of gods who were unaware of each other's existences until yesterday. Oh, and eight worlds other than Remnant and Earth. Also, I've just realised it's entirely possible but not confirmed that the dude who arrived here is also a god. He wasable to tear holes in reality, so if he _isn't_ a god he might be something worse."

"There's something worse than an evil god?" Velvet asked.

"Plenty of things." Suddenly, Yang's head cocked to the side as though she were listening for something. "Hold up, call on Olympian radio."

"Olympian radio?" Fox sounded as confused as I felt. The revelation of Yang's immortality had answered some of my questions, but it had left me with more.

"Your daughter?" Yang asked, though I couldn't tell who she was talking to. "Ooohhh," she said, comprehension dawning on her face as she looked at me.

"What was that about?" I demanded.

"Coco…" Yang said slowly, "personal question: did you know your mother?"

The shock from the question sent me into a stunned silence. I never talked to anyone about my mother, since I'd grown up without knowing who she was. My dad had always told me she'd bailed on him after giving birth to me, leaving him with a child he'd done his best to raise properly. I thought I'd turned out all right. Dad had never spoken ill of my mother, but a dark look would cross his face any time she came up in conversation. Why Yang had asked about her was a mystery.

"No…" I said, suspicious. It was a somewhat sore subject.

"That explains a lot," Yang said cryptically. "When everything over here is back to normal, Coco, I'll take you on a little trip to Earth. You deserve it."

"Why?" I demanded.

"All in due course. Anyway, where was I?"

"I asked what was worse than an evil god," Velvet reminded Yang.

"Right. Well, there's the Titans. They're arguably more powerful than gods, but supposedly we won't have to worry about them for a few thousand years at least. The giants, but we've dealt with them. But then there's the primordial deities. There's a proper word for them but I don't remember it."

"What are those?" Yatsu asked.

"They're the first beings to be born from chaos at the dawn of time. Most powerful deities in creation, technically, but they're almost always asleep. I fought one of them and won with some help from an Olympian and Weiss' entire supply of Dust. Blake fought another, but someone else finished her off."

"How many are there?" Fox asked.

"I don't know. There's probably some equally tough assholes who oppose the other gods we found out about yesterday. So, yeah. This situation could get extremely bad."

"But we can win, right?" Velvet asked, sounding slightly afraid.

"We have gods, demigods, magicians and Hunters on our side," Yang pointed out. "The bad guys have armies of monsters and potentially some evil gods. What's the worst that could happen?"

Before I could answer, an image of Ruby's face appeared in the air in front of Yang. "Sis, you gotta see this." The image widened, revealing the Emerald Forest. The vibrant green foliage made a stark contrast to Forever Fall's deep red hues, but I wasn't filming a nature documentary. My attention was focused more on what was behind Ruby.

"Those… are definitely not Greek," Yang said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Annabeth**

Goodwitch hadn't been kidding when she'd told Percy, the others and I that we'd be put in intensive training. As soon as the Hunter teams had left Ozpin's office, she and Qrow brought us to the training facility we'd been shown on the tour. When we arrived, she ordered the few students who were already there to leave so we'd have the full space.

"We will start with close-quarters practice," Glynda announced. She activated a control panel on the wall and began typing commands as Qrow began speaking.

"This'll be practical training against actual enemies," he explained. "You'll have android opponents, who will do their best to kill you. Naturally, they're not lethally armed, but you will get a bruise wherever you get hit. Make sense?"

Everyone nodded.

"An array of sensors around the room will detect track your performance and calculate what you most need to work on. We'll start the program on the lowest difficulty setting, and go from there," Goodwitch told us. "Try to work together. Good luck." She pressed another button on the wall, and a door opened in the far wall.

About a dozen robots entered the room. They didn't have much in the way of styling; they were simply grey human-shaped figures, carrying various mêlée weapons, such as swords, maces and axes. They advanced slowly, and I drew my sword. I hoped drakon bone would be strong and sharp enough to cut through the androids. Beside me, everyone barring Sadie brought out their own weapons. Carter had a smaller version of his avatar's sword, which he appeared to conjure out of midair. Magnus got a sword, too – a sword which, unless I was very much mistaken, almost appeared to grow out of his chest. Naturally, Percy uncapped Riptide.

"Um, Ms Goodwitch?" Sadie asked tentatively, raising her hand. "I fight with magic. I might obliterate your robots accidentally."

"Don't worry about that," Goodwitch told her.

There was no time for more conversation. The robots sped up their advance, and Magnus, Carter, Percy and I rushed forward to meet them. The one I got to first wielded a simple sword about three feet long, its blade edged with rubber. It slashed vertically at me, so I dodged to the side. I tried to counter with a quick stab from my sword, but it caught my wrist with its free hand and forced my arm away from itself. It followed up with a horizontal cut to my stomach. I was thankful for the rubber edge, but I still had the wind knocked out of me.

To my left, Carter and Percy were faring only slightly better. They both still had their swords, but they were fighting two robots each and it was all they could do to protect themselves. Their enemies' attacks came so frequently that they didn't even have time to hit back. Magnus, meanwhile, seemed to have given up, gone insane or both. He was running backwards, trying to escape the androids while yelling "Jack! Help!"

"Attack them, you belend!" Sadie yelled at him. I turned to look at her, and she pointed at a robot. " _Ha-di_ ," she said. I dodged another strike from the robot I'd been fighting in time to see a blue hieroglyph appear on the one Sadie had pointed at. It exploded shortly thereafter.

After a few more minutes of us mostly failing to accomplish anything and getting very frustrated, there was a shout of "fucking _finally_ " from Magnus. Before I could process what was going on, his sword began flying around the room, decapitating every remaining android before returning to his hand. Immediately, he sat down, panting with what seemed like exhaustion.

"So I guess the monsters in your world are softies, then," Qrow said gravely. "They must be, if you guys can fight them and win."

"While I wouldn't have put it _quite_ so bluntly," Glynda said, "I must concur. You children will not survive here without some very drastic improvement."

"Give me water and I'll kick some ass," Percy insisted. "I'm not as tough on dry land."

"All right, well, when the mer-people attack, I'll call you," Qrow said. "But you. Magic girl. I like your approach."

"Thanks," Sadie beamed.

"I'm related to the mer-people," Percy muttered. I elbowed him to shut him up.

"You must have _some_ advantages," Glynda said. "The mission report from Teams RWBY and JNPR suggests a fight that would've killed whichever among you were there."

"Well, Percy's dad is the sea god, so he gets stronger around water," I told her. "My mother, Athena, is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. I excel at planning things out and solving puzzles. That sort of thing."

"And I'm an _einherji_ ," Magnus said, "so I get to be faster and stronger than regular humans. Also, my dad is Frey, so extreme temperatures don't bother me."

"What was that sword trick?" Qrow asked him.

"Oh, that's Jack," Magnus replied, as though that should explain everything. "His proper name is Sumarbrander. He's sentient and does a bunch of cool stuff."

"Damn right I do." I didn't recognise the voice, and looked around to see where it came from.

"Oh, and he talks," Magnus added.

"Bloody Vikings," Sadie muttered.

"Uh, Sadie?" Carter said. "We've got a baboon who only eats foods whose names end with O. A talking sword isn't the weirdest thing ever."

"Other than magic, what can you two do?" Qrow asked the Kanes.

"We can occasionally channel god powers," Sadie said. "But not like Team RWBY god powers. Completely different gods."

"So three completely different sets of gods," Glynda said. "And possibly an evil god on Remnant."

Thinking about that last comment, I realised she was right. Anything that could've smashed through the magical barriers between Earth and Remnant, as Yang had put it, was seriously powerful. Even confining the possibilities to Greek mythology, I didn't want to think about what it could be if not a god or goddess.

"We should probably tell them about the other thing," Qrow said. "They should know what they're up against."

"We haven't even told the _friendly_ goddesses," Glynda pointed out.

"That's because Ozpin knows as well as you and I do that Team RWBY would hunt her down without proper planning or approval."

"What are you two on about?" Sadie demanded.

Glynda frowned at her, then sighed. "Well, you deserve to know, but do not tell anyone else." When we all nodded our assent, she explained, "one of Remnant's myths is also true. There's a story about four maidens who came across a cabin in a forest, where an old man lived alone and never went outside. The maidens stayed there a while, tended his garden and showed him how different the world was when you went outside compared to staring at it out of a window. In gratitude, he bestowed upon them immense magical power, and they became the embodiments of the four seasons. This is all true, but the maiden power is passed along when maidens die. Queen, the target we've mentioned, attacked the Fall Maiden and stole half her power, before Qrow intervened. Last night, Queen found out where we've been keeping Amber, and took the rest."

"So how tough are these Maidens compared to, say, Team RWBY?" Magnus asked.

"We don't know, which is part of the reason we don't want them to know the story is true," Qrow said. "If the Maidens, or Queen with the Fall Maiden's power, are strong enough, the ensuing fight could be devastating to the planet."

"Well... Why can't the other Maidens stop her?" Percy asked.

"We haven't been able to contact them to warn them, or ask for help, or anything," Glynda said.

"So evil god and possibly unstoppable evil woman. This is just _fantastic_ ," Sadie said. Suddenly, an image like an Iris-message appeared, but it was flickering, like a TV with bad signal. I could just make out Chiron's face.

"Percy, Annabeth," he said frantically, his voice sounding tinny. "There's a... Situation, in L.A. This line won't stay open long, we don't have much time."

"What's going on?" Qrow demanded.

"Something or someone from Remnant... Causing havoc... Mortal police can't do anything...

"We have to get there!" Percy yelled.

Another image appeared, this time with Ruby and Yang's faces. Behind them were Team JNPR and the team Yang had been with, fighting a horde of weird monsters. Most of them seemed to be sections of different animals spliced together.

"Demons," Carter announced.

"The fuck are these things?" Yang asked. "Egyptian or Viking?"

"Egyptian," Sadie said. "They shouldn't be too tough."

"Also, something's on Earth. Powerful, but not as bad as whatever came here," Ruby said. She turned and fired a shot into the horde of demons. A shockwave of red energy went out from where the bullet hit, clearing a large space.

"We might need rein–" Chiron said, before his Iris-message cut out. The image was replaced with one of Weiss, who still didn't look pleased about her company.

"South of Vale's all clear," she announced. "Too clear." Behind her, the team she'd been assigned to looked totally confused by what was happening. Apparently she hadn't told them anything. One of them was Cardin, so I assumed Yang had wiped his memory after he had appeared in Camp Half-Blood.

"You're needed on Earth," Glynda told her.

"Los Angeles, United States of America," I added. Weiss nodded, and her image vanished.

"Ruby, Yang, find out how those things got here," Qrow ordered. "And give them hell." The sisters grinned widely, and when their image disappeared I knew how much fun they'd be having.

"What do we do?" Carter asked.

Glynda pushed her glasses up her nose before answering. "Train. Or the enemy will kill you."

**Cinder (shortly before Chiron's message)**

"So, Miss Fall, did you do what I asked?" Set had grown impatient. My detour to Ozpin's basement the night before had slowed down the plan, but I didn't care. Set thought I was his agent, but he was actually helping to further my agenda. I would continue to go along with the ruse, however.

"Yes, lord," I said, not meeting his eyes. He'd told me to release dozens of demons into the Emerald Forest. I had done so, after taking what was mine.

"Well, now I have something I think you'll enjoy." He laughed, a stereotypical villain laugh. "You're going to Earth. A different city. Terrorise the mortals. Take whichever friends you wish, but go quickly."

"At once, my lord." I curtseyed, mainly to further cement the idea in his mind that I was his servant, and left. He'd already given me the ability to open portals, so all I had to do was find Emerald and Mercury.

"Sounds like fun," Mercury said, when he heard the orders. Emerald was much less eager, but agreed.

"Why do we have to do this?" she asked.

Before answering, I opened a portal to Earth. Bright sunlight shone through from the city on the other side, illuminating the darkened warehouse. "We make Set trust us until the next step in _my_ plan."

"Then what?" Mercury asked.

"I'll have no further use for a god with a superiority complex." I stepped through reality, leaving my compatriots to follow.


	8. Chapter 8

**Jason**

Things at Camp Jupiter had been quiet since the Giant War. I'd brought Piper to New Rome shortly after the Olympian party, and it had been a rather different camp experience. The relief from the world being safe and the influx of Greeks had lightened up the usually-serious nature of the camp, and a fair amount of Romans had gone to Camp Half-Blood. Because of this, every cohort was down on numbers. Gone were the strict rules about attire, keeping hair at regulation length and severe consequences for back-talking senior officers.

Even the War Games had changed. For the most part, castle sieges were Greeks versus Romans, engaging in friendly competition, but a few demigods from each camp always changed sides before matches. Reyna still tended to referee from her pegasus, but even she sometimes took part in the actual competitions.

As nice as the new, more-relaxed camp was, though, I was sorely missing Teams RWBY and JNPR. I hadn't exactly known them long, especially the latter, but the experiences we'd been through together had allowed us to really bond.

Piper seemed to share my sentiments. "I'm _almost_ hoping things go to crap again so they'll come back," she said one day, as we were watching the sunset from one of New Rome's hills. The last rays were glittering off the Little Tiber, lighting up Piper's face and making her look absolutely radiant.

"Don't say that," I told her. "Now something bad _will_ happen. I think we've done enough for one summer."

"Uh, Jason?" a new voice said from behind me. I turned and saw one of Apollo's Roman kids. "Didn't mean to eavesdrop, but yeah… something bad is gonna happen. It may have started."

"What is it?" Piper asked. She sounded as concerned as I felt.

"The new augur said he's seen some disturbing things," the kid said. "L.A. being obliterated, goddesses dying, monsters destroying both demigod camps…"

"Anything else?" I demanded, getting to my feet and heading in the direction of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Piper and the kid followed.

"The world being cast into darkness."

"That doesn't sound good," Piper said. We broke into a run. When we got to the temple, we found Nico Di Angelo waiting for us, looking scared. Piper, Nico and I entered, and saw Reyna already inside with the augur. Reyna's face betrayed no thoughts or emotions, but her eyes were clear indicators of how worried she was.

"What's the situation?" I demanded.

"Well… I had a vision of one of the new goddesses, the black-haired one, being murdered by a dude in a mask…" the augur said slowly. "And Los Angeles is gonna get fucked up real soon, if my visions were accurate."

"Someone should get over there," Piper said. "And we should try to get in contact with Team RWBY, just in case."

"We'll go," I told her. "With Frank and Hazel."

"Anything else we should know?" Reyna asked the augur.

"I had a brief glimpse of an eternal night," he replied.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I said. "For now, L.A., and warn Blake that she might be in danger. Reyna, you should make sure the camp is prepared for an attack."

I left the temple with Piper. After a quick stop at our quarters to change into clothes better suited for an adventure, we were off to hunt down Frank and Hazel. We found them, after half an hour of searching, in the archery range. Frank was trying to teach Hazel how to use a bow and arrow, but it didn't seem to be going well.

"Hey, guys," I called. My timing was less than impeccable; Hazel had an arrow nocked and let go of it in surprise. It hit the wall a foot away from the target with a loud _thunk_. When she turned around, she was blushing in embarrassment.

"Hey, Jason," Frank said. "What's up?"

"Fancy a double date to the City of Angels?" Piper asked.

"What's the catch?" Hazel asked. "We never get to just take a trip. Is something going on?"

"Something _could_ happen," I told her. "Supernatural stuff. Could be dangerous. You two in?"

"Of course," Hazel and Frank said in unison.

"Are we taking a train, or what?" Piper asked.

"Good question." I hadn't thought that far ahead.

"We could take Arion," Hazel suggested. "He'd like the exercise. We just need to attach a chariot."

"Take about half an hour," Frank said. "Sounds good to me."

"All right. Where is he?" I asked. Instead of answering, Hazel left the range. The rest of us followed her to where the chariots were stowed, about ten minutes away from the archery range. The sun had almost completely set by now, and I couldn't help but think about what the augur had said. _Eternal night_ wasn't something I was eager to see.

A sharp whistle dragged me back to reality. Within seconds, a brown horse with a black mane appeared nearby, his hooves smoking slightly. We wasted no time in hitching the nearest chariot to him while Hazel dragged gold up from the ground to feed him. It was done quickly enough, but we soon noticed a problem.

"The chariot only safely fits two people," Piper pointed out.

"Well, I'll be riding Arion," Hazel said, "but we're still too many."

"Can't Frank just turn into something small?" I asked.

"I _can_ ," Frank replied, "but I'd have nothing to hold onto."

"I can put you in my pocket," I suggested.

"Absolutely not." Frank didn't seem amused by my idea, but Hazel and Piper were hard-pressed not to laugh.

"What about sitting in Jason's hood?" Piper asked. "I mean, there's not really much else, unless you wanna turn into a bird and fly to L.A."

"I'm not flying. It'll take too long," Frank said. "All right, Jason, I'm trusting you."

He shrank down and grew fur all over his body, his nose elongated into a snout and his hands became tiny paws. After a few seconds, the thing looking up at me from where Frank had been standing was a hamster. Piper gently picked him up and put him in my hood, where I could feel him squirming around to get comfortable.

"You good?" she asked. After Frank squeaked, Hazel climbed onto Arion and Piper boarded the chariot, helping me get on immediately after.

"All right, Arion," Hazel said. "We need to go to L.A. Can you do that?" The horse whinnied. "Hold on tight, guys." Piper and I gripped the front of the chariot just in time, but Arion's sudden acceleration still almost caused us to fly out.

We sped out of the valley and headed west, which confused me. Hazel yelled something about running on water and the Pacific having less obstacles, and I felt like Piper shared my doubts about that being a good idea. We couldn't argue though; chariots weren't built for comfort, and when combined with the transonic speed Arion had now attained, that made it difficult to think. My brain seemed to be rattling in my skull, my face felt like it was peeling back and my teeth were banging together every time we hit the slightest of bumps.

It wasn't long before we were out of the Bay Area entirely, and I could see the Pacific Ocean spread out ahead of us. Its sparkling blue waters were speeding towards us at an alarming rate, but Hazel yelled back some assurance about everything being fine. It didn't feel fine.

We soon hit the water. I had my eyes clenched shut, but I opened them when I heard a terrified squeak coming from my hood. Frank was still there, then. That was good. Piper, meanwhile, had an iron grip on the side of the chariot. She definitely wasn't enjoying the trip. I, however, was starting to relax a bit more. The Pacific was a smoother surface than going overland, possibly because we were simply slicing through waves instead of bouncing with them. To my left was a never-ending expanse of blue ocean, and I wondered if Neptune knew what we were taking through his domain, and how he'd feel about it. To my right was the West Coast, whizzing by in a blur of colour. Other than the spray, hitting my face so hard it was like hail, I almost felt serene.

The sonic boom broke that illusion. Suddenly, the only sound was Arion's hooves hitting the water in front of me, and the wind hitting my face. It occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to hear Frank, so I pushed that thought aside.

The rest of the journey was almost eerie in its quietness. I couldn't help but think of what the augur had said. What could be happening in L.A.? To my knowledge, all the gods' enemies were beaten, and wouldn't be coming back for centuries at least. I strongly doubted the possibility of a mortal war. That stuff never showed up in Apollo's prophecies, or his kids' visions. And Blake being killed? Who or what could kill a goddess, especially one as skilled in combat as she was? The vision _could_ have been wrong, or metaphorical in some way, but it still troubled me. As far as I knew, the only things that could actually kill a goddess were the primordial deities, or being thrown into Chaos, under Tartarus.

Most worrying, though, was the part about eternal night. Did that mean Apollo was going to die? Was he going to lose his sun chariot? Something worse?

These thoughts kept me so thoroughly occupied that I didn't even notice the chariot slowing down, or that I could hear again. The only thing that dragged me out of my stupor was Piper using her charmspeak.

" _Jason!_ Off the chariot, dammit! We're here!"

I shook my head to clear it and stepped down to ground level. Piper retrieved Frank from my hood and put him on the ground. He didn't look pleased when he morphed back into a human.

"Hazel," he said, "we are never doing that again."

"I thought it was fun," Hazel insisted.

"Guys?" Piper interjected. "Not our biggest concern."

She was right. Arion had taken us to the outskirts of the city, where traffic had ground to a complete stop. People were running around frantically, mostly away from the city centre. The screams were rather loud. I looked in the direction of downtown and saw a large plume of smoke rising, much darker than the exhaust fumes of the infamous Los Angeles traffic.

"What's happening?" I asked the nearest person.

"Terrorists!" she yelled, barely stopping as she answered. "Save yourselves!" She was lost in the crowd soon after.

"Odds of that being true?" Frank asked.

"Low enough to warrant checking." None of the others questioned my decision, so we began picking our way through the throng of terrified mortals. Fear seemed to have taken hold of everyone, and not even Piper's charmspeak could calm them down.

It took a long time to reach the city centre, but when we did, it was immediately obvious that the woman who'd been yelling about terrorists hadn't been entirely correct. A woman with black hair was floating above the road in the middle of an intersection, apparently supported by a plume of flame. She was smiling maniacally, and her red dress didn't seem affected by the fire she was throwing around, melting cars and incinerating anyone unlucky enough to catch her eye.

The mortal police and SWAT teams had her surrounded and were firing at her from behind the cover of their squad cars. Most of the bullets melted and fell to the ground before they hit her, but she was blocking others with her bare hands. Even the more powerful assault rifles of the SWAT units were ineffective.

"Anyone have a plan?" Hazel asked.

"If I turn into a dragon I can probably take her," Frank suggested.

"And if you can't?" I asked.

"What about my charmspeak?" Piper asked. "I might be able to break her focus."

"It's too dangerous," I told her. "If you catch her attention and the charmspeak doesn't work, she'll kill you without a second thought."

"So what do we do?" Frank asked.

I was silent as I tried to think of an answer. As I pondered our options, an indignant voice broke through the gunfire and explosions.

"What kind of Semblance is _that_?! It's so fucking overpowered!" _Semblance?_ I thought. _Is someone from Remnant here?_

"Shut up, Winchester." That voice was much calmer, much sterner and much more familiar. I looked around for the source when a large shard of ice flew into the intersection and hit the fiery woman, knocking her to the melted tarmac below her.

Weiss Schnee then strode into view, looking every bit as regal as I'd ever seen her. She was accompanied by four people I'd never seen before, all of whom looked extremely confused. Weiss herself looked pissed but determined and cast a glyph in the middle of the intersection. A visible bubble went out, halting the fire of the mortals. They looked around at each other, then climbed into their vehicles and retreated. The ones whose cars no longer worked ran away on foot.

"Who are you?" Weiss demanded of the woman in red.

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" she replied, getting to her feet. "Ozpin should know by now that he's on the losing side. He's sent you to die."

"By your hand?" the goddess asked. "I doubt that."

"Fine." The woman launched a fireball at Weiss, who merely cast a shield in front of herself. The flames dispersed, then she conjured a hail of ice shards. The woman was ready for them, and evaporated them before they could touch her.

She ran at Weiss, almost too fast for me to see, drawing two swords seemingly out of nowhere as she went. The goddess was ready for her, blocking both blades with Myrtenaster. She pushed the woman back and shot some lightning from her rapier, sending her opponent into a building. She followed up with another large shard of ice, and sheathed her weapon.

"Hello. It's nice to see you again." Weiss' voice when she addressed Hazel, Frank, Piper and I was much friendlier than before.

"Hey, Weiss. How've you been?" I asked.

"I've been good. Until today."

"Schnee? Who the hell are these people, and where are we?" one of Weiss' companions asked.

"I already told you to be quiet," she snapped. "Do you have any idea who that was?" she asked us.

"No," Piper said. "Our camp augur told us something bad might happen here, so we came to keep an eye on things."

"Could be a Norse or Egyptian goddess," Weiss muttered. "Oh, yeah. Viking and Egyptian gods are real. It's not just Greek and Roman ones."

"Well, that's just great," Frank said.

"Gods don't exist," one of Weiss' companions said. He had burnt-orange hair, startling blue eyes and his grey armour had a bird design on it.

"Are you going to introduce us?" Hazel asked.

"This is Team CRDL. Cardin Winchester–" Weiss gestured at the kid with the bird armour – "is their leader. CRDL, this is Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang."

No further conversation took place. I noticed the woman in red extracting herself from the building Weiss had thrown her into and yelled a half-formed warning as she launched another fireball at the goddess. This one connected and detonated, throwing us all to the ground. Weiss took the brunt of the impact and flew twenty feet before standing up shakily. Her clothes were untouched, but her face showed nothing but absolute fury.

"How?!" the woman in red yelled. "What are you?!"

In response, Weiss waved her hand. A miniature hurricane suddenly began swirling around the woman, instantly extinguishing any flames she tried to conjure as well as blowing her hair in her face. She yelled in fury and seemingly went nuclear, exploding with such force and intensity that I was temporarily blinded. Weiss' hurricane was dispelled, we were all sent backwards and all that was left of the intersection was a large crater. I was vaguely aware of the sound of shifting stone and a goddess cursing.

When I got my bearings back, I looked around to find Weiss with Myrtenaster stabbed into the ground. The sword was glowing, and above me was a white domed shield, apparently supporting a few tons of rubble.

"A building collapsed on us," Weiss explained. Her face took on a look of intense concentration and the shield expanded, pushing the rubble away from us. "And the woman escaped."

"To Remnant?" I asked.

"What do you mean, to Remnant?" Cardin asked.

"We're on a different planet, now shut up," Weiss told him. "And yes, Jason, she's now on Remnant. That's as far as I can track her."

"So what now?" Piper asked.

"Now we talk to everyone. Find out what we can. Piper, go see Chiron at Camp Half-Blood. Jason, I'm sending you to Remnant. Find Ozpin, tell him I sent you. Take CRDL with you. Frank, Hazel, to your camp. The Romans might know something the Greeks don't."

"What about you?" Frank asked.

"I'm going to Olympus."

Three portals appeared, each clearly going to different places. It wasn't hard to tell which was which. After some hurried goodbyes, Team CRDL and I stepped through ours. The last thing I saw before the portal closed behind us was bright golden light flooding through, evidence of Weiss' true immortal form.


	9. Chapter 9

**Yang**

Killing the Egyptian demons was fun. Sadie was right; they weren't any trouble. Coco's minigun was tearing them to shreds, while Pyrrha was easily decimating their ranks. Even Jaune was faring rather well, and he didn't even need a goddess' blessing.

The real star of the show, though, was Velvet. As it turned out, her weapon could create holographic copies of everyone else's, and she could even imitate their fighting styles. This gave her such adaptability that most of the demons were actively trying to avoid her.

Despite the enemy numbers, they didn't really stand a chance. Within minutes, we defeated all of them. This left us with an issue.

"Where did they come from?" Jaune asked.

"Well, whatever came here can't be anything weaker than a god," I said.

"Are you saying an Egyptian god is here releasing demons?" Ruby asked.

"It's possible."

"We'll see what Carter and Sadie think," Pyrrha said. "For now, though-"

"Hold on," Ruby said. "Yang, did you feel that?" I did. And it worried me.

"What is it?" Coco asked.

"Whoever went to Earth a few minutes ago is back," I explained. "He or she is powerful. It's not easy to go back and forth like that."

"Is Remnant safe?" Pyrrha sounded quite scared.

"Come on, what's the worst that could happen?" Coco said confidently. "I know we're dealing with immortals here, but we've got goddesses of our own, right?" She'd taken her shades off, and I could now see what I'd missed before. The news I'd received through Olympian radio now seemed so _obvious_ , and I wondered how she'd take it when she found out.

"She's right," Ruby agreed. "We were told the giants were impossible to beat, but we won. And we were mortal then."

"So what do we do now?" Jaune asked. Before anyone got a chance to answer, I felt another message coming through on Olympian radio.

_Team RWBY is to report to Olympus at once. Bring your Headmaster and the magicians._

Zeus' tone, even through telepathy, sounded scarily serious.

"Yang. What does he want?" Ruby asked. I shrugged.

"What's she talking about?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Zeus wants us on Olympus. We can't disobey," I explained. "Dunno what he wants us for."

"So what do we do?" Jaune asked.

"Report back to Goodwitch," Ruby told him. She began to glow faintly, and I could tell she was about to reveal her immortal form and fly to Olympus.

"Guys, shut your eyes and turn around," I said. "At least, do that if you want to live." Satisfied that our friends would be safe from our divine forms, Ruby and I departed for Olympus.

It was far easier to get there when we didn't have to bring mortals; we could simply fly straight there instead of having to open holes in reality. It occurred to me when we crossed over to Earth that neither of us had checked with Weiss and Blake who was getting Ozpin and the Kanes. Trusting that one of them would, I disregarded that and followed my sister to Olympus.

It was night on Earth when Ruby and I reached New York City. Despite this, the metropolis was still bustling with activity, swarming with mortals oblivious to the mountain floating above their heads. Olympus itself was as brightly-lit as ever, and almost seemed grander than I remembered. Unless I was mistaken, some of the palaces had grown larger. Only the colossal throne room at the summit looked completely unchanged.

Ruby and I landed close to it, and even I was slightly intimidated by the aura coming off it. Above it, what appeared to be a massive storm was brewing, possibly indicating Zeus' mood. My sister motioned me forward, and I followed. Slightly worried, I channelled some energy into Ember Celica to boost the power of its blasts, should I need to defend myself. While being a goddess did allow me to vaporise most threats instantly, I enjoyed fighting the old-fashioned way more than almost anything.

"Yang!" My girlfriend's voice made me turn. Blake had Ozpin, Carter and Sadie with her, and the four of them hurried to catch up with Ruby and I. I kissed Blake briefly while Ozpin and the Kanes looked around in wonder and Ruby told us to hurry up.

"Do you know what's going on?" Blake asked when we separated.

"No, but Team CFVY knows about the goddess thing and we met some Egyptian demons. They're pretty shitty fighters."

"I told SSSN. Don't be surprised if they start asking for divine favours." Blake shook her head as she finished speaking, but clearly couldn't hold back a small smile. "They didn't even question it. Sun just wanted to know if he'd get alcohol by praying for it."

"Sounds like him," I said. "Anyway, best not to keep Zeus waiting. Guys, let's go!"

The six of us entered the Olympian throne room, where we found thirteen deities, not one of them less than twenty feet tall. I was mildly surprised to see that Hades had been invited to the meeting, but didn't wonder why. Weiss made fourteen, but she was normal size. Her normally pristine hair and clothes were somewhat dishevelled, as if she'd been in a fight. That gave me pause. Who could she have been fighting that would have had that effect? Had she just forgotten to fix herself up? A rather loud whisper dragged me out of my thoughts.

"Professor? Carter? Sadie? It might be a good idea to kneel in front of Zeus if he addresses you," Ruby said. Everyone in the room looked at her, wondering how she hadn't realised how epically she'd failed at being quiet.

"Now that everyone is accounted for," Zeus boomed, "we may begin." His voice reverberated around the room, making my brain vibrate in my skull. "First, introductions. I am Zeus, Lord of the Sky, master of lightning and ruler of Olympus. Ozpin, I bid you welcome to Earth. Carter and Sadie Kane, I wish to express to the gods of Egypt my desire for peace and harmony between us. The way things are going right now, it seems like we will need to stand together."

"Weiss has delivered a disturbing report," Hera said, speaking almost as loudly as Zeus yet with a slightly softer tone. She nodded at Weiss to elaborate.

"I heard from Chiron – long story – that something was going on in Los Angeles. I brought Team CRDL with me and found mortal police engaged in a firefight with a woman in a red dress. She was standing on a column of flame and tossing fireballs around. The mortals' bullets either melted before they got close or she blocked them with her bare hands. When I fought her, she mentioned Professor Ozpin by name, so I'm certain she was from Remnant. She was also far too powerful to be a regular Huntress. She escaped using an explosion that collapsed a building on top of us. CRDL, as well as Piper, Jason, Frank and Hazel, are lucky to be alive."

"Well, Ozpin?" Athena asked. Her tone was strictly business, and her eyes – identical to Annabeth's, only much older – seemed to bore holes into my Headmaster. "Do you have any information on this mysterious entity?"

Ozpin sighed. "Weiss, you fought Queen, our priority target. It is good that you are immortal, or she almost certainly would have killed you."

"Who is this 'Queen'?" Athena asked, taking the words out of my mouth. I was sick of Ozpin not giving Team RWBY any answers.

"We think she was a perfectly ordinary Huntress, once," he said gravely. "She turned her talents against society and somehow acquired knowledge of one of Remnant's most closely-guarded secrets."

"And what is that?" Zeus asked.

"Team RWBY will perhaps understand this better than most in the room, but the Maiden story, which children on Remnant are told as a bedtime story, is true, and Queen stole the Fall Maiden's power."

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and I had one of our silent conversations while Ozpin briefly summarised the tale to the Kanes and the Olympians. The Maidens were real? They were tough enough to go toe-to-toe with a goddess? Why did no one know about this? Why did this even surprise us at this point, given the amount of other cultures whose mythology we knew to be true?

"We now believe Queen will hunt down the other Maidens and steal their power. If she succeeds, she could become a threat on par with the Titans or even the Gigantes," Ozpin said gravely. I didn't remember us telling him about the Titans. Maybe he'd done some reading.

"Can you protect them?" Zeus asked.

"Possibly, but we don't know where they are."

"Professor, who's 'we'?" I asked.

"Glynda, Qrow, Ironwood and myself, Yang," he replied. "This is what we do."

"Track them down before this Queen does," Zeus ordered. "Meanwhile, we have other matters to attend to. Does Team RWBY have anything else to report?"

"We have reason to believe an Egyptian god or goddess is on Remnant," Ruby announced. "We felt their crossing the day we met the magicians, and we've now seen Grimm on Earth and Egyptian demons on Remnant. Can't be a coincidence."

"In that case, it's probably Set," Sadie said. "He likes to cause trouble, but we beat him once. All we have to do is find the bugger and tell him to sod off."

"Would he listen?" Blake asked doubtfully.

"Sadie knows his secret name, so she can tell him to do anything and he has to," Carter said. "Egyptian magic. Kinda hard to explain."

"Very well. You will return to Remnant and deal with this Set," Zeus said. "And now, possibly the gravest issue yet. Hades, what do you have to tell us?"

Hades rose from his plain grey guest throne, towering over my team, the magicians, Ozpin and I. "I've felt some very disturbing stirrings from Tartarus," he boomed. "I fear ancient forces are waking."

"Why don't you just go check it out?" I asked.

"I daren't leave Erebus unattended," he replied. Seeing Carter and Sadie's confused faces, I mouthed _the Underworld_.

"But… didn't you leave it unattended by coming to Olympus?" Ruby asked.

"No, child," Hades said, with a hint of annoyance. "This is merely a small fraction of my essence, enough to take physical form and communicate. The rest of me is still in my palace. However, I would need my full power to enter Tartarus and come back out again. I cannot take that risk."

"Well, brother," Poseidon said, "today might be your lucky day."

"What are you talking about, Poseidon?" Zeus asked.

The sea god sighed, and rotated his enormous fisherman's chair to face Team RWBY. "We have four able-bodied, young goddesses who can fight better than most heroes throughout history. They can assess the state of affairs in the pit, surely?"

 _Oh, for fuck's sake_ , I thought. _Really, Barnacle Brain?_

"Are they powerful enough?" Athena asked. "Chaos lurks just beneath, and there are plenty of Protogenoi who could most likely destroy them." That comment changed my thinking.

"With all due respect, I did kind of single-handedly beat Tartarus back when I was mortal," I pointed out.

"Sorry, Blondie, I didn't realise you pulled that avatar out of your ass," Ares snapped, his voice just about as spiteful as I would have expected.

"All right, Ares helped. And Weiss' Dust," I admitted.

"Regardless, Tartarus was likely not at full strength," Athena said. "He was out of the pit. Even if the four of you are immortal, sending you down is dangerous."

"But probably our best option," Zeus countered.

"And if we're lucky, one of them won't come back," Ares said, glaring at me. I stared right back, scratching my cheek with my middle finger. This gesture wasn't missed by my sister, who was hard-pressed not to giggle. Blake also noticed, and gave me a telekinetic slap to the face. Worth it.

"Miss Rose, what do you think of this plan?" Hera asked. Ruby's face immediately went serious again.

"I believe my team and I will be perfectly capable of accomplishing a scouting operation, provided we're given time to research what we should be looking for and what we can expect to find down there."

The fact that none of us disagreed with her was testament to how well we knew each other. I would've given a similar answer, and based on the approving looks from Weiss and Blake, they would have too. Zeus nodded.

"Very well. Upon the conclusion of this meeting, you will head to the Olympian library and do all the reading you can in six hours. Afterwards, Lord Hades will escort you to Tartarus."

 _This should be fun_ , I thought.


	10. Chapter 10

**Percy**

If my first full day at Beacon Academy was anything to go by, I did _not_ want to become a regular student. Goodwitch and Qrow had Magnus, Annabeth and I working our asses off. If they'd had their way, the Kanes would've been, too, but not long after Ruby and Yang had announced their battle with the demons, Blake had appeared and taken the magicians to Olympus, apparently on Zeus' orders. Goodwitch in particular looked more than a little pissed off by this, but didn't disobey.

The one silver lining we got was that we were allowed to go to the school cafeteria for dinner with everyone else. The food was on par with Camp Half-Blood, and just as plentiful. The main difference, apart from eating inside, was that we didn't get magic cups, and we had to use vending machines instead. Thankfully, Pyrrha was nice enough to give us Earthlings some Remnant money to buy our drinks.

"So how'd your patrol go?" Annabeth asked, when Team JNPR and the rest of us were getting tucked into our dinners.

"You already know about the best part," Nora said, "but the rest was boring as _fuck_. For some reason the Grimm wouldn't come near us."

"It seemed as though they were actually running away from us," Ren explained.

"Might've had something to do with the demons," Jaune said, "but Ruby thinks it was because her immortal essence combined with the cheerful optimism she's known for was causing an aura that chased them off."

"Is that possible?" Annabeth asked.

"Well," Pyrrha said, "Grimm are attracted by negative emotions. The happier a community is, the less Grimm attacks they'll get. It's possible that a goddess feeling happy has the opposite effect, but as far as I know, there've never been any goddesses on Remnant before. So we don't know how Grimm react to them, other than getting obliterated."

"Isn't this stuff, like, _top-secret_?" I asked. "Should we be discussing it in the open like this?"

"Nah, it's fine!" Nora said. "No one listens to other people's conversations around here!"

"Are you sure?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah! Watch!" She stood up on her bench and yelled "hey everyone! Jaune and Pyrrha are dating!"

None of the other students even batted an eye. It was like they hadn't heard, but Jaune grabbed his teammate's arm and yanked her back down. "That's not true!" he hissed. That cleared up something that had been bothering me almost since I'd met Team JNPR.

"Sooo…" I said slowly. "You two _aren't_ a thing?"

"N-no, of course not," Pyrrha said, rather quickly. She sounded a tad dejected, but her face was as red as her hair.

"Anyway, did we miss anything amusing at camp?" Jaune asked.

Annabeth smiled. "Did Yang tell you about her little adventure with Cardin or whatever his name is?"

"We know she accidentally punched him too hard and he landed there," Pyrrha said. "That's about it."

After Annabeth and I recounted the story between us, we'd all finished eating, and I realised how tired I was. Team JNPR seemed sympathetic, and recommended we get a lot of rest. According to Nora and Jaune, Goodwitch would be just as relentless with us the next day, if not more so, and wouldn't be afraid to use her riding crop if we annoyed her. With this depressing knowledge in mind, we decided to retire to the guest dorms and relax, even if we wouldn't necessarily sleep for quite some time.

Magnus headed straight for his room, bidding Annabeth and I goodnight, and I very eagerly opened the door of the room I shared with my girlfriend. Apparently Remnant society was far more open to co-ed dorms than Earth, if Beacon's housing structure was anything to go by. I collapsed onto my bed, while Annabeth sat down on hers and leaned against the wall.

"You worried?" she asked. When I looked at her, she had her scary face on, reserved for the gravest of situations.

"Little bit," I said. "Though I'd like to know how these Maidens stack up against immortals."

"They probably can't _kill_ them, right? I can't imagine a mortal taking out a goddess. Team RWBY should be able to handle this Queen person."

"What if she attacks when they're not here?" I suggested. "I know we've beaten Titans, gods, Gigantes… all that shit before, but a lot of that was luck, you must admit. And my temporary invulnerability."

Annabeth sighed. "You're right. And let's not forget Norse and Egyptian mythology. Some of those guys could be way tougher than even the Protogenoi. We have no way of knowing unless they do something, and we don't want that. I wish the Olympians would let me into their library. I could find out something useful."

"So I'm guessing nothing like this has ever happened before?" I asked.

"It's not in any of the myths. Everything I know of is directly related to the writings of Antiquity poets. I can't think of anything that even _hints_ at the other paradigms."

Suddenly, a wave of overwhelming tiredness hit me. "Well, with this encouraging conversation behind us, I'm gonna have to go to sleep now. Goodwitch exhausted me today," I said, stifling a yawn. My bed seemed ridiculously comfortable, and I could feel myself drifting off. "Night, Annabeth. Love you."

I was asleep before I heard a reply.

"Hey, Percy. Seaweed Brain!" The voice was impatient and very familiar, even though my brain was still fogged with sleep. I focused on it, chasing the darkness from my vision. My room swam into view, with Yang Xiao Long standing in the middle of it. She didn't look too pleased. Behind her, Annabeth was still asleep.

"Yang! You're back!"

"No, idiot." I couldn't tell if Yang was being sarcastic or not. "You're still asleep and I'm still on Olympus. This is a dream."

"How'd you know I'm asleep?" I asked.

"I uh… contributed to your current state?" she said, in a tone that made me think she was hoping I wouldn't question her.

"Did you knock me out from Olympus?" I demanded.

"A bit. You were already falling asleep, I just sped it up a bit. Annabeth wasn't even close to unconsciousness. Anyway, we only have a few minutes, so listen up."

"Everything okay?" I asked, suddenly as alert as I could be while dreaming.

"We just had a meeting with the Olympians. Hades included. The Kanes are pretty sure they know which god is on Remnant, and they think they can stop him once they find him, so that's not terrible."

This didn't seem like something so urgent she'd put me to sleep to tell me. "There's more, isn't there?"

Yang nodded gravely. "Remember you once told me not to accept an all-expenses-paid trip through Tartarus? Turns out we're going. Just Team RWBY."

"Why?" I asked, fearing for their safety. I knew they were immortal, but… Tartarus wasn't the sort of place you'd want your friends visiting.

"Zeus' orders, but Poseidon's idea. I see where you get your brilliant plans from now. Hades said he felt some 'stirrings' but he doesn't want to check it out himself in case the Underworld is overrun while he's gone. They let us go into the library to do some research, and we learned some stuff you'll definitely want to hear."

"What's up?" In spite of the seriousness of the situation, I found myself oddly pleased that I would be getting some knowledge even Annabeth didn't know.

"The magical barriers between Earth and Remnant weren't always there. Millennia ago, people went back and forth all the time, except that they didn't usually know they were doing it. Then the Grimm appeared, monsters from Greek myths became more common, and it ended up being rather chaotic. Not only that, but the Maiden story had also happened, and some of the girls getting those powers weren't exactly the people you'd want getting them. It was decided—book doesn't say who decided—that a way to stop rogue Maidens was needed. Some weapons were created which would bypass their Aura completely and kill them just as easily as a sword through the chest would kill you."

"Do these weapons still exist?" I asked, not liking the sound of them at all.

"Yes. I don't know where exactly, but there's more bad news. Apparently one of these weapons, a dagger, was used on a very old god whose name I can't make out. There's no mention of how powerful he was, but his essence faded, he became mortal and his wounds killed him. After that, Remnant and Earth were separated, with the Maidens and the weapons on Remnant and everything else on Earth."

"So we have to find these weapons?"

"It would be recommended, yes. When you get a chance, tell Doctor Oobleck about this stuff. He's a historian at the school and might know something about where they ended up. We _cannot_ let Queen get them. According to Weiss, she's no pushover, and Ozpin thinks she's gonna go after the other Maidens as well.

"Anyway, I now have some very impatient teammates and the most depressing god I've ever met telling me to hurry up, so I have to go. Want me to bring you Tartarus' tooth as a souvenir?"

"No thanks," I said. I couldn't tell if Yang was joking, but the last thing I wanted was a reminder of the lord of the pit. "Good luck. Come back safe."

"We will. See ya, Seaweed Brain."

**Blake**

"Yang, _hurry uuuup_ …" Ruby whined. My girlfriend was still communicating with Percy through a dream, and was apparently unconcerned with the schedule we were on. It was a bit of an odd thing to watch; Yang was standing perfectly still in the Olympian library, almost like an incredibly lifelike statue, except her face was moving. In that respect, watching her was like watching a silent film. Her lips were moving, but we couldn't hear anything she was saying.

"Your leader is right, child," Hades agreed. "You must make haste. If ancient spirits are truly waking, there isn't a moment to lose."

"All right, I'm coming," Yang snapped, suddenly audible. "Let's get down there and fuck some shit up."

"Good. Follow." Hades waved his hand and a swirling vortex of what appeared to be shadows appeared. He stepped through and vanished, closely followed by my teammates. I brought up the rear and found myself in a dark cavern, standing at the edge of a pit I instinctively knew to be bottomless.

"Do we just jump down?" Ruby asked.

"Mentally prepare yourselves," Hades replied. "You may be goddesses, but your minds are still those of mortals. The horrors of the pit may be initially too much for you to bear. When you land, cover as much ground as you can as quickly as possible, and try to avoid any primordial deities."

 _That might not happen, with Yang around_ , I thought. I decided I'd just have to try to control her. Shaking my head to clear it, I took a deep breath, then realised that wasn't strictly necessary. I'd never really thought about it before, but being mortal had gotten me so accustomed to breathing I'd never stopped.

"All right, let's go!" Yang yelled dramatically. She turned her back to Tartarus and spread her arms. Winking at me, she let herself fall backwards. A few seconds later, I heard her yell of exhilaration. Hades muttered something in ancient Greek, and gestured at the rest of us to follow our teammate. Ruby shrugged and dove headfirst, followed closely by Weiss and I.

My first impressions upon landing were not good. The landscape of Tartarus seemed to stretch on infinitely, with countless monsters wandering around. The air was tinged with red, and a smoke-like haze covered everything. About fifty yards to my left was a river which seemed to be made of fire; I knew there were five, but I couldn't identify this one.

Weiss didn't quite land as well as the rest of us. One of her feet hit a bubble made of a gelatinous substance and punctured it. She lost her balance and toppled, landing on the enormous face within the bubble. She shrieked when she saw who it was.

Porphyrion was staring at us.

His face was somewhat deformed. He had burn marks around his eyes, probably from when Yang had blinded him with Ember Celica. His irises were shot with golden blood, a substance which was now also pouring out of his cheek where Weiss' heel had stabbed him. His other cheek had a hole in it, and his open mouth revealed a set of toothless gums.

"Is he… reforming?" Yang asked.

"One of the scrolls I read said that could happen," Ruby replied. "So yeah, probably."

Yang cracked her knuckles and activated Ember Celica. "Technically we're all both goddesses _and_ heroes. Think we can kill him again?"

I drew Gambol Shroud while Weiss picked herself up and dusted off her dress. "Way ahead of you, honey," I said. I knelt next to Porphyrion's left eye and buried my sword in it up to the hilt. More ichor torrented out, drenching me, but I didn't care. Yang tossed some of her explosive shells into the giant's mouth and fired when I got clear, detonating his entire head. The crater that was left where his head had been filled with dust while I cleared Porphyrion's blood off myself.

"So do we attack every reforming giant we find?" Weiss asked.

"Sounds like that would be a good idea," Ruby replied. "Let's go." She picked a random direction and walked off, leading the rest of us to follow. I had only taken a few steps when I felt Yang take my hand.

"Don't tell anyone I admitted this," she whispered, "but I'm getting some really bad vibes from this place."

"I know," I replied. "I'm getting them too." She gave me a wistful smile, then glared defiantly at the hellish landscape. It was like she was daring the pit's denizens to pick a fight with her.

The trek across Tartarus was one of the few times I found myself almost glad of my time in the White Fang. Countless tense situations and nights spent wondering when the police would show up had hardened my nerves almost to the point of making me unflinchable, which came in very useful in the worst place in creation. Even so, the knowledge of what could be lurking just beyond the horizon was almost enough to make me genuinely afraid.

Almost.

It was Yang's presence that kept me sane. While admittedly she wasn't any more powerful than me, or any less susceptible to annihilation by Protogenoi, being with her made me feel safer, almost comfortable. It was a feeling I'd had pretty much since we'd started dating, but before coming to Tartarus I'd taken it for granted. Now I wasn't sure what I'd do without her.

With the amount of monsters around, I wondered how Percy and Annabeth and survived. Granted, none of them dared bother four goddesses, but there must have been thousands of them wandering around, and they almost certainly would've made beelines straight for two starving, exhausted demigods.

"Hey, guys?" Yang suddenly said, dropping my hand so she could point off into the distance. "Is it normal that there's like, no monsters over there?" I looked where she was pointing and found that she was right. There was a particularly dark region where absolutely nothing was moving.

"Does it matter?" Weiss snapped. "If there's nothing there it's probably fine."

"I don't think so," Ruby said. "If monsters are avoiding that area there's something."

"Fine." The heiress' tone made it perfectly clear that she thought her leader's logic was anything _but_ fine, but it wasn't like there was much she could do about it.

"Be careful," Ruby cautioned, and sped off to the dark zone.

"It'll probably be fine," Yang said reassuringly, and joined her sister. Weiss and I followed, ever the more careful half of the team. As I drew closer, an intense feeling of dread washed over me. It reminded me of the time I'd faced Tartarus on the Acropolis, but not as strong, and there was no immediately evident cause.

"What have we here?" a soft woman's voice suddenly said. All four of us immediately stopped and looked around in confusion.

"Who's there?" Yang demanded. We were so deep in the dark zone that the faint golden glow of her hair was the only light.

"Young upstarts invading my territory would be wise not to take that tone with me," the voice replied. Around us, the darkness became solid and seemed to be sucked into a single point. An enormous woman took shape, forming from shadow.

She stood about a hundred feet tall, easily dwarfing my team and I. even with my night vision, it was difficult to make out her features, but I could tell she was stunningly beautiful. Her eyes were bright pinpricks in the darkness, shining like nuclear explosions. Sprouting from her back were enormous wings.

"And who are you?" Weiss asked politely. I secretly hoped the others would let Weiss do all the talking; she was the most learned in etiquette and least likely to anger the woman.

"You do not recognise me?" Her voice now carried a harsher edge, dangerously close to annoyance. "I am Nyx, goddess of the night and mother to some of the worst horrors in creation."

"Uh… hi," Yang said lamely. "I'm Yang."

"Why are you here?" Nyx snapped. "I've heard about you. The lord of the pit would be pleased to find you in his domain."

"Lady Nyx, we mean no harm," Weiss said hurriedly. "We only entered your territory because we didn't know you lived here and we wanted to see why there were no monsters around."

"Why are you in Tartarus? Mortals made divine have no place here."

"Lord Zeus' orders," Ruby explained. "We're scouting."

"Ah, Zeus…" Nyx said slowly. "He fears me, you know. Recently I've been thinking. He's been ruling for too long. Perhaps it's time for night to cover the earth."

"Right… well, uh… I think we should go now," Yang said, backing away.

"You're not going anywhere." Nyx opened her palm and a tendril of shadow shot out, heading straight for Yang's heart. Weiss was quickest to react and threw up a shield in front of my girlfriend. I'd have to thank her later.

Nyx wasn't happy about that. More shadowy tendrils appeared, closing in on Weiss from all directions. She cast a dome shield to protect herself, but it quickly faltered under Nyx's superior power. She was knocked to the ground, and Ruby drew Crescent Rose.

"Back off." Her voice was defiant, but quivered with fear. Nyx simply glared at her and beat her wings. A wave of shadows enveloped us, so dark that even I couldn't see through it. We soon heard Weiss struggling, followed by a loud thud then silence.

The darkness cleared, and I saw Weiss lying on the ground at Nyx's feet. Myrtenaster had fallen from her hand, and the goddess of night was now staring at the rest of us. Her eyes now shone more fiercely than before.

Almost as if she knew what I was thinking, Ruby's voice spoke in my head. _Easy targets, right, girls?_ I activated my pistol and took aim. Beside me, Yang did the same with Ember Celica.

"NOW!" Ruby yelled. The three of us fired in unison, our projectiles travelling much too fast for Nyx to dodge. The goddess howled when she lost her sight, and we took the opportunity to run. Yang scooped up Weiss and threw her over her shoulder while Ruby and I kept our eyes on Nyx.

"Come on, Schnee," Yang muttered. "Wake up so we can escape faster…"

"Don't call me Schnee," Weiss said quietly.

"Let's go," Ruby said. She assumed her immortal form and disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a red streak. The rest of us followed her in a similar fashion, putting several hundred miles between us and Nyx in a matter of seconds.

We came to a stop at the edge of a cliff. It was similar to the entrance to Tartarus Hades had shown us, except that it was nothing but pure energy beneath us. I figured it was Chaos, and decided it would be best to take a couple of steps back.

"So Nyx wants to rise," Ruby said. "That's probably what Hades was feeling."

"Yes," Weiss said. She didn't look like she'd recovered completely from her ordeal. She was walking with a slight limp and she had a slightly sickly pallor. "But… this spot… I'm feeling a presence. A more dangerous presence."

I felt it too. It felt like there was someone nearby, someone who was the physical embodiment of all-encompassing hate. It was even worse than the vibes from Nyx or Tartarus, and seemed to be coming from an outcropping of rock jutting out above the sea of chaos. It had two spires of black stone on it, each maybe ten feet tall. Between them was just enough space to chain up a human.

"Check it out to be safe?" Yang asked. Reluctantly, I nodded. Ruby agreed.

The feeling of hate got stronger as we approached the outcropping. Yang took my hand again and squeezed it tight, attempting to give me a reassuring smile at the same time. It didn't work. I could tell she was just as uneasy as me. Her face fell when she saw what was between the rock spires.

It wasn't a person, or even a deity. Somehow, it was worse. It looked like a crack in reality, through which I could see another world. It made Tartarus seem almost utopian in comparison.

"Is that some kind of prison?" Weiss asked.

"But for who?" Ruby replied.

"I don't know." Weiss stepped forward, towards the crack, ignoring our cautions. She knelt and peered intently into the other world. After ten of the most tense seconds of my life, Weiss shuddered violently. Ruby rushed forward but was suddenly thrown back. She rose shakily in time to see Weiss recover from her fit.

The heiress got to her feet and turned to face the rest of us. Her eyes had lost their piercing blue shade, and now glowed an intense shade of red. Her sclerae were jet-black, as dark as my hair. Around her eyes were deep purple veins. When she spoke, her voice was not her own.

"Is this to be my liberation?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Yang**

"Weiss… What's going on?" Ruby's voice was shaky. She was staring at Weiss in concern. The hateful aura around us was now mixed with something close to triumph.

"Hey, Schnee. Not the time for pranks," I said forcefully. The heiress didn't respond. "Ice Queen." Still nothing.

"Weiss. Snap out of it," Blake said firmly. She then let go of my hand and grabbed the hilt of Gambol Shroud.

"Don't fight her, Blake," Ruby cautioned.

"If you will not fight, you will die," Weiss said, in that otherworldly voice. She opened her palm and a wave of strikingly purple energy shot out, hitting Ruby square in the chest. She went flying, luckily away from the precipice.

"Restrain her!" I yelled, no longer caring about what Ruby had said. Blake and I lunged forward, but Weiss was far too quick. She stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground, and a wall of rock shot upwards between us. Blake couldn't react fast enough and crashed, but I punched through, hell-bent on taking down the heiress.

Unfortunately, punching the rock created a cloud of dust through which I couldn't see. I desperately looked around, searching for Weiss, and suddenly felt cold metal piercing my back. I cried out in pain and spun quickly, aiming a powerful punch at chest level. I gladly felt it connect with Weiss, and wasted no time in grabbing her arm and pulling her towards me. Ignoring the fact that Myrtenaster was still sticking into my back, I followed up with a few punches to the side of her head, hoping to knock her out. I failed to account for her glyphs.

One of my punches hit a shield, while the part of her arm I was holding suddenly became deathly cold. I let go in surprise, and another wave of that purple energy threw me back about twenty feet. I landed on my back, pushing the rapier even deeper.

"Weiss! Snap out of it!" Ruby yelled. That didn't have the desired effect. Weiss threw up a glowing white dome shield around my sister, then set fire to the ground under her feet. That made me reach my tipping point. I got to my feet and pulled Myrtenaster out of my back, using my Aura and immortal essence to close the wound. I seriously considered snapping it, but decided not to. Seeing red, I approached Weiss slowly.

She turned to face me. When she saw that I still wanted to fight her, she smiled. It was a demonic grin I didn't think she was capable of, and deeply unsettled me. I did my best to ignore it, and reached out to Blake telepathically.

 _Sneak up on her. Pin her arms behind her._ In the corner of my eye, I saw my girlfriend nod. She suddenly vanished, and turned my attention back to Weiss. I could vaguely hear Ruby yelling in pain, and guessed the flames wouldn't go out no matter what she did. That made it hard to focus.

 _Ready?_ My girlfriend's calm voice sounded through the cloud of rage that was my mind, and I smiled in response. An invisible force pulled Weiss' arms back, and I was quick to take the opportunity. I threw a punch as hard as I could at her face, and almost didn't notice when she broke free of Blake's grip.

The Faunus' surprise at being overpowered broke her stealth, and time seemed to slow down as Weiss turned around and blasted her backwards. She sailed towards the edge of the cliff, and I could tell she was going to go over. My punch struck the heiress in the back of the head, and she collapsed. I let my momentum carry me forward to reach the cliff, and just barely missed Blake's hand.

I immediately closed my eyes in despair. Blake was gone. Not even a goddess could come back from Chaos.

Now completely beyond rational thought, I got to my feet, picked up the barely-conscious heiress by the ankle and dragged her over to the dome shield she'd created. I effortlessly tossed her into the air, and timed a punch so that it would hit her in the stomach and slam her into the shield. The white glow flickered with the impact, and I punched several more times. Only Weiss' immortality let her survive long enough for the shield to break. Ruby was quick to dive clear of the flames.

"Yang, stop!" she yelled, as I prepared another punch. "You're gonna kill her!" I hesitated for a split second, genuinely concerned that she might have been right. I wasn't sure if a goddess was capable of killing another goddess, but I decided I didn't want to find out this way. A look at Weiss' face showed the corruption receding. Ruby's gentle hands took my arm, still hovering in the air.

"She's still gonna pay," I said, my voice quivering. I let my arm drop to my side. "That wasn't funny to begin with."

"I don't think she was trying to prank us, Yang," Ruby said quietly.

"Then what the _fuck_ was that about?"

"I don't know. Maybe whatever was imprisoned in that rift got into her," Ruby suggested. "Possessed her. It would explain how she got so much stronger."

"What… what's happening?" Weiss asked weakly. I looked at her and found her eyes open, now thankfully back to their normal piercing blue.

"Something or someone possessed you. You attacked us," Ruby told her quietly.

"Where's Blake?" Tears sprang to my eyes at the mention of her name.

"Dead," I said, choking back a sob.

"You'd do well to observe your surroundings more closely, Yang," a gruff, familiar voice said. "And you're welcome." I turned and saw Thor, looking exactly the same as he had when I'd met him. Other than some slight astonishment that he was here, though, I wasn't overly interested in him. I cared more about whom he had with him.

Blake lay at his feet, unconscious but still very much alive.

"Thor? What are you doing here?" Ruby asked, while I rushed to Blake's side.

"Heimdall saw you four in trouble. I convinced my father to break some very old rules so I could come down here and help you. And holy shit this place is worse than Helheim."

"Yeah, it's rough," I agreed, now satisfied that Blake seemed to be all right. "How'd you manage to save her?"

"Saw her going over the side. Threw Mjolnir. Caught her in the stomach, but made a nice niche in the cliff face for her. That's the main reason she's unconscious." Anger briefly flared up in my chest, but I quickly calmed down when I considered the alternative. "Anyway, what's going on here?"

"We're not sure," Ruby said. "Weiss just got possessed, a primordial Greek goddess might rise and attack the mortal world… none of this is good."

"We should probably get out of here," Weiss suggested. "Nyx knows we're here. Tartarus himself can't be far behind."

"Not until I'm sure Blake's okay." My voice still hadn't returned to normal. I sat down next to the Faunus and cradled her head in my lap, waiting for any signs of life other than faint unnecessary breathing.

Thankfully, it wasn't too long. Blake slowly opened her eyes and looked around in confusion, with her gaze resting on Thor. She shook her head and stood up and was about to start stretching when I stopped her with a relieved hug.

"I thought I'd lost you," I whispered into the crook of her neck.

"It'll take more than Weiss to kill me," she replied with a wistful smile. "Anyway, are we done here?"

"Yeah," Ruby said. "Let's go back to Olympus."

A few minutes later, Team RWBY, accompanied by Thor, stood once more in the Olympian throne room. Zeus was the only other god present, and he looked rather confused when he saw Thor.

"My lord," Ruby said respectfully, "this is Thor, Norse god of thunder. He saved Blake's life."

"What happened down there?" Zeus demanded. "Did you find anything?"

"The first thing we need to report is our encounter with Nyx." Ruby paused when Zeus' face contorted slightly with fear. Apparently the goddess of the night hadn't been lying. "She said she's been thinking of plunging the world back into darkness, then tried to kill us. We escaped by blinding her and fleeing as fast as we could."

"This bodes ill," Zeus muttered. "I don't know if we can stop her… Carry on."

"We also encountered what appeared to be a crack in reality, suspended between two black spires," Blake said. "Weiss inspected it closely, and got possessed by something. She became far more powerful and tried to kill us. I was thrown over a cliff and plummeted towards Chaos, but Thor caught me in time."

"All I can tell you is who possessed Weiss," Zeus said. "Her name is Salem. You will have to ask Ozpin for more information."

"With all due respect, why can't you tell us more?" Weiss asked.

"That is all I know. The situation with Salem was resolved long before we Olympians were born, and the story was not passed down."

 _Then why would Ozpin know?_ I wondered. "My lord? How old is he?" I asked aloud.

"That too is something I do not know. The four of you can now return to Remnant. I will inform the other Olympians, as well as both demigod camps. Thor, I invite you to stay. We must ally ourselves against dark forces, and I wish to know more of Asgard."

When the two thunder gods began discussing, Ruby led the team through a portal which landed right in Ozpin's office. Qrow had been talking to him, and stopped mid-sentence when we arrived. Both their faces were impassive.

"Professor, we have some questions for you," Ruby announced.

"This is a place of learning," Ozpin said. "What do you wish to know?"

"Who is Salem?" I demanded. The Headmaster's face fell, and Qrow looked alarmed.

"Salem is an evil entity far more powerful than any god," Ozpin said gravely. "Eons ago, she was sealed in a pocket world by Greek primordial deities, who needed to combine their power to contain her. The only entrance to her prison is directly above Chaos, the idea being that she would be destroyed if she ever escaped."

"She nearly did today," Ruby said.

"Was she stopped?" Ozpin demanded.

"She possessed me. Yang beat her influence out of my head," Weiss replied. Ozpin sighed in relief.

"We think she's been manipulating Queen. It would explain her knowledge of the Maidens," Qrow told us.

"If she ever gets out, she will be able to destroy everything we've spent centuries building," Ozpin said. "Assuming we're right about Queen, her first goal after acquiring the power of the other Maidens will be releasing her mistress."

"We can't let that happen," Qrow said. "But we still haven't managed to contact the others."

"Want us to search for them?" Ruby offered.

"No," Ozpin replied. "We need you four here to defend the school and the kingdom in case Set attacks."

"Is that likely?" Weiss asked. "Have the Kanes had any luck tracking him down?"

"They were out looking a while ago," Qrow said. "They returned with no results. In the meantime, I suggest you help your Earthling friends train. They're currently only marginally more useful than an empty bottle of whiskey."

"You'll find them in the training room," Ozpin said. "You are dismissed."

When we reached the training room, we found Percy, Annabeth, Magnus, Carter and Sadie locked in combat with Beacon's androids. Their efforts to defeat the robots were less than successful, with Sadie being the exception. She was blowing them up with some weird symbols and words none of us understood. Meanwhile, Percy and Carter were narrowly avoiding getting their asses kicked, and Annabeth was yelling orders, trying to coordinate some kind of strategy. Magnus was talking to someone apparently called Jack, who might've been a figment of his imagination.

"Oh, you're back," Sadie said when she saw us. "How was Tartarus? That's what it's called, right?"

Before any of us could reply, a random sword nearly decapitated me as it flew around the room.

"Shit, sorry, Yang!" Magnus said. "Jack, attack the _robots_ , not the goddesses!"

"Who's Jack?" Ruby asked.

"My sword," Magnus told her. "It's magic and sentient."

"Sure," I said. "Why not? Anyway, Tartarus. It sucked. We're not getting into it."

"Ozpin and Qrow want us to help you train," Ruby announced. "So for the rest of the day, do exactly as we tell you and you should be kicking butt in no time!"

I got out my Scroll to tell Team JNPR to come help, and prepared for some much-needed stress relief.

**Cinder**

Spring was easy to find. She'd left a trail of freshly-bloomed flowers behind her as she traversed Vytal, and I managed to get her to lower her guard when I caught up to her. She didn't suspect me at all, and even offered me a bunch of grapes she produced from inside her cloak. She thought I was just another traveller… right up until my knife pierced her throat.

I made sure to watch the light in her eyes fade so I'd be the last person she thought of. As her power transferred to me, I smiled at the prospect of watching Beacon burn before Ozpin's eyes.


End file.
